During the Civil War, Robert Henry Newell was one of the North's most popular humorists. His satirical The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers were particular favorites of Abraham Lincoln who, according to Carl Sandburg, once declared "Any one who has not read them is a heathen."

Newell was the child of a prosperous New York City couple, Robert and Amy Lawrence Newell. His father was a successful inventor who had been awarded gold medals at international expositions in London and Vienna. He perfected a bank lock the combination of which could be changed daily and a sewing machine that anticipated Elias Howe's invention by several years. Young Newell was educated in private schools and was preparing for college when financial problems following his father's death in 1854 forced him to give up plans for further schooling. Newell turned to journalism for a living and apparently succeeded very quickly. In 1858, only...