Robert Henry Newell (December 13, 1836 – July 1901) was a 19th-century American humorist.

His articles appeared weekly in the New York Sunday Mercury, where he was the literary editor until 1862, and were published in a series of books.

[2] From approximately 1862 to 1865, he was married to famous actress Adah Isaacs Menken.

During the war, The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers was widely read and Newell enjoyed great popularity.

When General Montgomery C. Meigs admitted that he had never heard of Orpheus C. Kerr or his Papers, Lincoln responded, "anyone who has not read them is a heathen.