Battle of the Diamond

Battle of the Diamond
Part of the Armagh disturbances
Date 21 September 1795 Location The Diamond, County Armagh 54°24′40″N 6°36′00″W / 54.411°N 6.600°W / 54.411; -6.600Coordinates: 54°24′40″N 6°36′00″W / 54.411°N 6.600°W / 54.411; -6.600 Result Protestant victory
Belligerents
Protestant Peep o' Day Boys and allies	Catholic Defenders and allies
Strength
Well below 300	Around 300
Casualties and losses
None	Around 30 dead, with a large amount wounded
Location of The Diamond, in between Loughgall and Portadown, County Armagh

The Battle of the Diamond was a planned confrontation between the Catholic Defenders and the Protestant Peep o' Day Boys that took place on 21 September 1795 near Loughgall, County Armagh, Ireland. The Peep o' Day Boys were the victors, killing some 30 Defenders, with no casualties in return. It led to the foundation of the Orange Order and the onset of "the Armagh outrages".

In the 1780s, County Armagh was the most populous county in Ireland, and the center of its linen industry. Its population was equally split between Protestants, who were dominant north of the county, and Catholics, who were dominant in the south. Sectarian tensions had been increasing throughout the decade and were exacerbated by the relaxing of some of the Penal Laws, failure to enforce others, and the entry of Catholics into the linen industry at a time when land was scarce and wages were decreasing due to pressure from the mechanised cotton industry. This led to fierce competition to rent patches of land near markets.

By 1784, sectarian fighting had broken out between gangs of Protestants and Catholics. The Protestants re-organised themselves as the Peep o' Day Boys, with the Catholics forming the Defenders. The next decade would see an escalation in the violence between the two and the local population as homes were raided and wrecked.

The Diamond, which was a predominantly Protestant area, is a minor crossroads in County Armagh, lying almost half-way between Loughgall and Portadown. For several days groups from both sides had been arriving at the crossroads. The Defenders had made their base on Faughart Hill in the townland of Tullymore, less than a quarter of a mile south-west of The Diamond. The Peep o' Day Boys, which historian Connolly states were of the "Orange Boys" faction, encamped on a hill in the townland of Grange More to the north-east.

Word of a planned confrontation appears to have been widespread well before it took place, even being gossiped about by militia-men stationed Dublin and Westport. Catholic Bernard Coile, from Lurgan, County Armagh, who had rose to become a merchant in the linen industry, called upon the local two parishes to agree to a non-aggression pact. This appears to have succeeded in regards to the Lurgan area, were no Lurgan men were amongst the combatants. There would also seem to have been adequate time for preparations, with one County Tyrone militia-man sending home a guinea to purchase a musket for the Defenders, and Peep o' Day Boys scouring Moy, County Tyrone for gunpowder.