Wright County, in Missouri's Ozark Highland, lies in a region ceded to the U.S. by the Osage Indians in 1808. Its first white settlers, mainly from Tennessee, arrived in the 1830’s. The county was organized in 1841, named for Senator Silas Wright of N.Y., and Hartville was laid out as county seat that same year, probably taking its name from Hartsville, Tenn. During the Civil War, Hartville was the scene of a bitter day-long battle on January 11, 1863, when some 2,500 Confederates under Gen. John S. Marmaduke encountered about 1,000 Federals from Gen. Fitz Henry Warren’s command; both sides claimed victory, but Confederate losses were heavy, and among the colonels on Marmaduke’s staff were Joseph O. Shelby, later a general, and Joseph C. Porter, who was mortally wounded. In southern Wright County, Ozark Divide is an extensive plateau separating waters flowing north to the Missouri and south to the White River, with the headwaters of the Gasconade River north of the divide, and at Cedar Gap the plateau reaches 1,685 feet, one of the highest points in Missouri. Wright County, a land of fertile valleys and rough hill country, became noted for fruit, poultry, and dairy farms. At Mountain Grove to the southeast were the state's fruit and poultry experiment stations; the Fruit Experiment Station was founded in 1899 on 190 acres given by Wright Countians, and the Poultry Station dates from 1911. Mountain Grove was laid out in 1882, when the Kansas City, Springfield, Memphis R.R., now Frisco, came through, though pioneers in the 1850’s had first called the settlement Hickory Springs. Mountain Grove Academy, built in 1857, was an early notable school, saw a sharp Civil War skirmish on March 9, 1864, and after rebuilding in 1886 served the area as both a private and public school. Southwest in the county, Mansfield was laid out in 1884 and named for founder F.M. Mansfield. Nearby stood the early home of novelist Rose Wilder Lane and the home of children's writer Laura Ingalls Wilder. Hartville was also the birthplace of educator James M. Wood, and Mountain Grove of World War II Gen. Paul M. Robinett.