Battle of the Diamond

On 21 September 1795, rival militias clashed at a minor Armagh crossroads after days of open preparation, turning a linen-county dispute into a foundational trauma for the Orange Order. The Peep o' Day Boys defeated the Defenders with about six dead and wounds on both sides, but the greater damage was the birth of institutionalised sectarian identity from local competition over land and work. What began as neighbours fighting for scarce rent became a ceremony of exclusion, shaping Northern violence for generations.