On April 7, 1863, a squadron of Union ironclad vessels attempted to enter the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. The Confederate forts defending the city easily repulsed the attack, making it obvious that the city could not be taken by sea. Ephraim Williams, Jr. (b. 1837) of Deerfield, Massachusetts, a soldier in the 27th Massachusetts Regiment, witnessed the attack and drew this sketch. He named each of the Union ships that participated in the attack, and noted the Confederates forts, including Ft. Sumter, which he misspelled.