Measure voltage when battery is connected to lead without resistance
simulate this circuit &ndash; Schematic created using CircuitLab

Figure 1. Battery equevalent Circuit with load resistor.


Every battery has some internal resistance. This is shown in Figure 1.
You have created a voltage divider by placing your "resistor" across the battery terminals.
With the values I have shown there will be about 1% of battery voltage on your test wire. For a 1.5 V cell that will be 15 mV.
If you measure at both ends of that wire you might see that much voltage - but it depends on the resistance of the wire.


If you can find a long length of resistance wire and repeat your experiment you won't be so embarrassed. If you don't have suitable wire then make a chain of resistors and measure various points along it.