29 JUNE
“SLAUGHTER ALL THE MEN”
[ 29 June 1857 ]
On this day in 1857, Colonel James Neill ordered his redcoats on a mission of bloody retribution against an Indian village suspected of harbouring mutineers, insisting that “the village of Mullagu and neighbourhood be destroyed – slaughter all the men – take no prisoners,” adding “all insurgents that fall into good hands, hang at once – and shoot all you can.”[1]
FOOTNOTES
- Cited in Heather Streets, Martial Races: The Military, Race and Masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857-1914, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2004 p39