Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a stick used to beat slaves.

1994

C. Major Juba to Jive 25: Battling stick n. (1800s–1860s) slave term; a long, slender stick used to beat slaves.

2. a stick used for stirring clothes as they boiled in the laundry.

1953

Randolph & Wilson Down in the Holler 225: battlin’ stick: n. A club with which pioneer women beat their clothes in washing them, since they had no washboards.