In Our View: City’s Name Just Fine As Is

It is unique, descriptive, and eye-catching. But it also is a misnomer.

As those who are familiar with Clark County history can attest, the city of Battle Ground gets its name from a battle that never occurred. That only adds to the intrigue for an area that first saw European settlers in 1886, was platted in 1902, and was finally incorporated in 1951. Today, Battle Ground has about 19,000 residents, ranking near the top 50 of Washington cities and third in Clark County — behind Vancouver and Camas.

But what about that name? A new exhibit at the Battle Ground Community Library, “The Battle of Battle Ground,” goes to great lengths to explain it. Developed by local historians Louise Tucker and Don Higgins, the exhibit tells the story about a battle that wasn’t a battle.

As the city’s website explains, “Battle Ground owes its name to an encounter between U.S. soldiers stationed at Fort Vancouver and Native Americans who lived in an encampment near the fort. In 1855, a group of the Indians, led by Chief Umtuch, left the encampment and headed for the Cascade Mountains to the east.” U.S. Captain William Strong led a company of soldiers in pursuit, and they caught up to Umtuch’s men near what is now Battle Ground. After negotiations, the Native Americans agreed to return to the encampment, but somewhere along the line, Umtuch was killed.

Therein lies the mystery of Battle Ground, and the library exhibit presents 10 different theories about how Umtuch met his fate. Meanwhile, Strong was mocked in the press and by others at the fort for trusting the Native Americans to return to the encampment — which they did. The area became known as “Strong’s Battle Ground.”

That is the short version of the events, which are extrapolated by an exhibit that presents a fascinating piece of Clark County history. Meanwhile, it brings up questions about battles that never were and about how places came to have their current names.

As far as battles go, it calls to mind the story of Toledo, Ohio, now a city of about 300,000. In 1835, the state of Ohio and the adjacent territory of Michigan were arguing over who owned Toledo. After an almost bloodless war and intervention by the federal government, Toledo was awarded to Ohio while Michigan was given the Upper Peninsula. In retrospect, Michigan got the better of the deal.

But we digress. The more pertinent question locally is whether Battle Ground is an appropriate name for a city in central Clark County where a battle did not take place.

A movement has been afoot in recent years to rename many place names, especially when it comes to re-adopting native names for geographic landmarks. Denali has been recognized by the federal government as the official name for what long was called Mount McKinley, and some have advocated for changing the name of Mount Rainier to Tahoma or Tacoma, which is how native inhabitants referred to the mountain. In truth, it makes more sense to call the largest mountain in Washington by its historic name instead of the moniker that honors British Rear Admiral Peter Rainier, who fought against the rebels during the Revolutionary War and who apparently never set eyes upon his namesake mountain.

Battle Ground presents a different conundrum. The question involves the inaccuracy of the name rather than its historic designation. Because of that, Battle Ground is a perfectly suitable name as long as the people of the city wish to keep it. Even if it is a misnomer.