Forlorn Hope, a body of men selected to attempt a breach, or to lead in scaling the walls of a fortress. The name is given on account of the extreme danger to which the leaders of a storming party was necessarily exposed. As, however, the honor of success is proportionable to the peril of the undertaking, there is ordinarily no lack of volunteers for this arduous service.
Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.