George Nugent Quotes
Unless the rebels lay down their arms and release their prisoners I will proceed to set fire to and totally destroy the towns of Killinchy, Killyleagh, Ballynahinch, Saintfield and every farmhouse and cottage in the vicinity of those places, carry off the stock and cattle and out everyone to the sword who may be found in arms.
George Nugent, 1757–1849, English Major General, Military commander of the northern district of Ireland, Proclamation, June 10, 1798
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
He grossly underestimated the intensity of the American patriotic feeling and the fighting ability of the Colonists. He Commanded the Royal Marines at the Battle of Bunker Hill where he was killed by a shot fired by ex-slave and Black Patriot, Peter Salem. Note the recommendation to destroy towns. At the time, that was considered improper in warfare between nations, yet it was not so clear in fighting a rebellion. However, this was against British policy and it was not a tactic employed in trying to suppress the American Revolution.
Cromwell’s army of Parliament massacred all the town’s defender. Cromwell had issued an ultimatum to the town commander which had been refused. See {632367}.
At the time the President denied that he had decided to invade Iraq. Skelton saw the “handwriting on the world.”
These battles with the Irish—in this case the MacDonnell clan—were brutal atrocities where the winners of the battle killed all the losers and the women and children with them in the case of the Irish.
Sir George Nugent, 1st Baronet, GCB was a British Army officer. After serving as a junior officer in the American Revolutionary War, he fought with the Coldstream Guards under the Duke of York during the Flanders Campaign. He then commanded the Buckinghamshire Volunteers in the actions of St. Andria and Thuyl on the river Waal and participated in the disastrous retreat from the Rhine. He went on to be commander of the northern district of Ireland, in which post he played an important part in placating the people of Belfast during the Irish Rebellion, and then became Adjutant-General in Ireland. He went on to be Governor of Jamaica, commander of the Western District in England, commander of the Kent District in England and finally Commander-in-Chief, India.
