A column of almost 650 English troops led by Sir Henry Duke was ambushed and defeated by a Gaelic Irish force under Hugh Maguire and Cormac MacBaron O'Neill at the Arney River.

The battle was an early engagement of the Nine Years' War, and exposed the vulnerability of the English to ambushes in the wilder parts of Ulster with its thick woods and bogs.

As part of the Tudor conquest of Ireland, a policy of surrender and regrant was introduced that involved the formal submission of the Gaelic lords to the Crown.

In the summer of 1593, Maguire launched a revolt by raiding lands held by the English Lord President of Connaught, Richard Bingham.

Maguire's capital at Enniskillen was captured in February 1594 by an English force led by Captain John Dowdall, who massacred the Irish occupants after they had surrendered.

However the peace did not last long and Maguire, Cormac MacBaron O'Neill (Tyrone's brother), and Red Hugh O'Donnell laid siege to Enniskillen in May 1594.

At around 11 o'clock, the head of the column reached the ford and without warning intense Irish gunfire tore into it from hidden positions on the opposite bank.

Luckily for the English, they were not pursued as most of the Irish had fallen to looting the baggage train which gave the battle its name, Béal Átha na mBriosgadh or The Ford of the Biscuits.

Others have gone further to suggest that Maguire's rebellion was a diversion to focus English attention and military strength in Fermanagh while the Earl of Tyrone strengthened his position elsewhere in Ulster before breaking into open warfare at the start of 1595.

Moreover, a report by a woman captured by the Irish (but later released) stated that the earl later met with Maguire at nearby Liscallaghan (modern-day Fivemiletown) to receive spoils from the battle.