Battle Brook has its source in Greenbush Township, Mille Lacs County and flows southeasterly through Blue Hill and Baldwin Townships to Little Elk Lake. It then flows into the north end of the lake and goes through the lake out of the south end for several hundred yards where it enters the St. Francis River.
There are three stories about the naming of Battle Brook. One is that it was named from a fight between two white men who were employees of S.W. Farnham, a Minneapolis lumberman.
(From Place Names by Warren Upham, Minnesota Historical Society Press 1969.)
Another story exists that says that Battle Brook names a location at the upper end of the Brook where Indians had a battle ground. The actual battleground was located near Rice Lake in Princeton. There was a Scandinavian settlement close to the area.
(From Norwegian Settlement in Sherburne, Benton and Mille Lacs by P. Langeth, Augsburg Publishing, 1905)
Battle Brook Named From Raid Indians Made on Cattle
Battle Brook, in Sherburne County, which rises close to the southern Mille Lacs county line in Blue Hill Township, was named from a raid that Indians made on the cattle belonging to early settlers in Mille Lacs County.
The Indians drove off a number of cattle that were allowed to graze in the open country by the settlers, there being no herd law and no restraint on cattle running at large on account of the vast amount of unsettled country. Farmers were supposed to fence in their crops and let their cattle run at large.
When it was discovered that the Indians had made off with some of the cattle an expedition of whites was formed among whom were A.B. Damon, an old U.S. cavalryman and Indian fighter, C.H. Chadbourne, W.J. Cravens, and other homesteaders. They carried such guns as they could pick up and overtook the Indians along Battle brook.
The Indians put up a hostile front drawing knives and waving tomahawks, not having any guns with them. As the whites approached the Indians lay down in the tall grass of a meadow and began crawling up towards the white men. Damon had warned his posse to not show any fear of the Indians but to march right up on them and demand the cattle. He claimed the Indians would not fight if the whites put up a brave front and showed no fear. And so he led the men up to the Indians lying in the grass and showed how to treat them by prodding with his gun and kicking them up into a standing position, and ordering them about. By treating the Indians in this rough manner the Indians were glad to sneak off and let the whites take the cattle back home. And that was all there was to the battle that name Battle Brook.
(Found: "Battle Brook Named from Indian Raid" - Princeton Union-Eagle. Not Dated.)