Talk:Battle Ground, Washington

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Origin of Battle Ground inquiry: Was it the women of the fort? I remember growing up and hearing that the Klicitat had given Strong an item in thanks and I though that's what the petticoat was. Are there any sources for this besides the sign in the middle of town?

It was the women. I've just added a reference to a wonderful article about Captain Strong that discusses it in a bit more detail. I remember looking for details about Strong when I wrote this article a few years ago, but didn't run across this one at the time. The sign in the middle of town also attributes the gift to the women of the fort. Interestingly, the sign says the petticoat was "many-colored", which would probably make it a reference to the Biblical many-colored coat of Joseph and give it a meaning of "we'd like to see you thrown down a well," while the article in Columbia magazine says it was red.

Incidentally, most of the information in the "Origins of the Name" article came from the sign in the middle of town. It was supplemented with a few details pulled in from other web pages. This will teach me to cite references correctly in the future - I've tried to locate them again and I'm having a hard time determining which web pages preceded the Wikipedia article and which are copies of it. In particular I haven't been able to locate the web page that mentioned the Vancouver Barracks as the location where the Klickitats were held, though the Columbia article says that they "were gathered around the fort," which is essentially the same thing.

--eTom67