History:

Battle Ground was consolidated in 1867 with the Town of Harrisonville. The governments of both towns decided to name the consolidation Battle Ground. The Town of Battle Ground was named for the Battle of Tippecanoe and the Town of Harrisonville was named after William Henry Harrison, commander of the American forces of the Battle of Tippecanoe. The monument to the left was erected in 1908 and dedicated to the men that served and were killed in the Battle of Tippecanoe. The Tippecanoe Battlefield is a National historic land mark, which has a museum and recreation area.

In the late summer and fall of 1811, William Henry Harrison, then Governor of the Indiana Territory, organized a military expedition against the increasing menace of the federation of Indian tribes being formed by the Shawnee brothers, Tecumseh and Elskatawwa-The Prophet. With the Prophet’s Town as his objective, General Harrison marched from Vincennes at the head of a small army of about one thousand men. General Harrison met with representatives of the Prophet on November 6th 1811, when he arrived at Prophet’s Town, and told them of the demands he brought in the name of his government. General Harrison was to meet with the Prophet and his council the next day about the demands of the government. General Harrison then set up his encampment on a ridge about a mile northwest of Prophet’s Town. Fearing the cunning and treachery of the Prophet, General Harrison placed his troops in battle formation , instructed his men to sleep fully clothed, and assigned a large detail of men for sentinel duty. On the morning of November 7th 1811, after 4 o’clock AM, the camp was attacked by the Prophet. After a fierce battle, General Harrison and his army defeated the Prophet’s Indian confederation, and all but ended the Indian wars in the Midwest.