[5] In 1880, he was accepted in Grenada, Mississippi, as a candidate for holy orders of the Protestant Episcopal Church, with the plan to attend a three year preparatory course at Sewanee: the University of the South.

[10][11] Batten soon followed Clagett to the Idaho Territory, locating in Ketchum in 1885 and quickly receiving an appointment as deputy district attorney for Alturas County.

[12] In 1886, he was admitted to practice before the Idaho Territorial Supreme Court and lost the Democratic nomination for county district attorney.

[13][14] The following year, he was reportedly considered for nomination to the Attorney General for the territory by Governor Edward A. Stevenson, after his first nominee was rejected, but instead Richard Z. Johnson was reappointed.

[15] In 1888, he again ran for county district attorney, securing the Democratic nomination over Lycurgus Vineyard, but he narrowly lost the general election.