Samuel Newitt Wood (December 30, 1825 – June 23, 1891) was an American attorney, newspaper editor, and member of the Kansas House of Representatives.

[5] Afterward he was assigned to the 6th Missouri Cavalry Regiment (Union), "Fremont's Battalion", which he had recruited, serving as major and subsequently lieutenant colonel.

[6] On November 18, 1852, Samuel's mother Esther Ward (Mosher) Wood served as President of the Ohio Women's Rights Convention held at the Presbyterian church in Mount Gilead.

[7][8][9] On January 21, 1860, S. N. Wood introduced House Bill No.6, entitled "An act to prohibit slavery or involuntary servitude in Kansas", and it was referred to the Committee on Judiciary, of which he was chairman.

In 1866, Samuel was one of the leaders who proposed an amendment to the Kansas State Constitution which would strike out the words "male" and "white".

Through this group he brought in the speakers; Henry B. Blackwell, of New Jersey, Mrs. Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Olympia Brown, Bessie Bisbee, and Susan B.

[10][11] Involved in politics from an early age, Wood was chairman of the Liberty Party's Central Committee in his home county in 1844.

[12][5] He was admitted to the bar in Morrow County, Ohio in 1854 and when the Kansas-Nebraska act was passed, Wood and his family moved to near Lawrence at Wakarusa, Kansas where he joined the Free State Party.

On July 27, 1861, he was appointed and commissioned by President Abraham Lincoln as [Collector of Customs] at Paso del Norte, New Mexico.

Wood attempted to prosecute the men, but it was ruled that no court had jurisdiction in "No Man's Land" (the Oklahoma Panhandle) where the event took place.

As a direct result of the vicious county seat fight, Wood was assassinated outside the Hugoton courthouse on June 23, 1891, by James Brennen.

The "Song of Samuel Wood" was made and sung in his honor by a Kansas Flint Hills band.