At this moment Charlie and the other officers were summoned to the front for orders.

They were brief and to the point.
"Straight for the fort, there!" said the commanding officer, "the shortest way you can take your men!" It was an order that meant certain death to scores of those brave fellows; yet when they had heard it they cheered as schoolboys cheer for a holiday.
Again we stood waiting.

The officers with their swords drawn stepped in front.

The men quickly loaded and fixed bayonets, and then came the shout,-- "Forward!" As we cleared the trees we burst full in the face of the enemy's fire.
For a moment the balls whizzed harmlessly over our heads, then there was a crash on the ground before us, and, as we rushed on, the men parted on either side to avoid stepping over a dying man.

It was awful; and every step we took grew more and more fatal.