Wilbur Fisk Sanders (May 2, 1834 – July 7, 1905) was a United States senator from Montana. A leading pioneer and a skilled lawyer, Sanders played a prominent role in the development of Montana Territory and the state's early political history. Early life Sanders was born in Leon, Cattaraugus County, New York, to Ira and Freedom (Edgerton) Sanders. His father was a farmer originally from Rhode Island, and his mother a native of Connecticut. Being a devout Methodist, Ira Sanders named his firstborn son after a hero of his faith, the founding president of Wesleyan University, Willbur Fisk (the name was often misspelled by his contemporaries with one "l," instead of two). Family stories tell of a precocious child displaying a keen intellect and studious character. Wilbur attended the common schools in New York and afterward taught school himself. Following his mother's wishes, Sanders moved to Akron, Ohio, in 1854, where he continued teaching and studied law under his uncle, Sidney Edgerton. His Uncle Sidney, 16 years his elder, exercised a profound impact on his life. Also born in western New York, Edgerton had moved to Akron ten years earlier and rose to prominence under the tutelage of the veteran Ohio politician and lawyer Rufus P. Spalding. Edgerton likewise took Sanders under his wing. Sanders gained admission to the bar in 1856, and he and Edgerton soon entered a law partnership. Edgerton had become involved with the Free Soil Party in the 1840s, and by the mid-1850s, around the time Sanders joined him in Akron when his political activities had shifted to the fledgling Republican Party. Sanders followed his uncle's political development. On October 27, 1858, Sanders married Harriet P. Fenn, a native of Ohio. They had five children, but only three survived into adulthood: James, Wilbur E., and Louis. Civil War During the Civil War, he recruited a company of infantry and a battery of artillery in the summer of 1861 and was commissioned a first lieutenant in the 64th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, of which he was made adjutant. Sanders served in the Battle of Shiloh, and later in 1862, he assisted in the construction of defenses along the railroads south of Nashville. His family reported that he resigned from the army in August 1862 following an illness aggravated by a wound. He returned to his family in Akron, Ohio. Montana Territory He settled in that part of Idaho