Reverend Battles moved to Hartford in 1961, where he served as pastor at Mt. Olive Church and worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He became a key figure in Hartford's civil rights movement as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's regional director and participated in the creation of Hartford's Congress of Racial Equality. Battles also served on the Hartford Board of Education for four years, including two as president, and he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.