John Thompson Brown (February 6, 1835 – May 6, 1864) was a Confederate States Army colonel and artillerist in the American Civil War.

[1] Brown is credited by some sources with firing the first shot of the Civil War in Virginia at that first, minor engagement in the state.

[8] On May 7, 1861,[9] Brown's second company of the battery fired its first shot from Gloucester Point, Virginia in the minor Battle of Gloucester Point, the first reported military action of the war in Virginia on May 7, 1861[1] The Howitzers fired against the Union Navy gunboat USS Yankee which was steaming up the York River from Hampton Roads.

Brown distinguished himself by protecting the Confederates involved in Jackson’s flanking movement from a probe by the federal III Corps.

Brown is among those criticized for the failure to get ammunition trains to the front, reducing the number of guns available for the grand bombardment on July 3.

[16] Brown’s gunners helped cover the retreat of the army to the Potomac River, reaching Hagerstown, Maryland on July 7.

[17] They were assigned on the left of General Robert E. Lee's defensive position near Williamsport, Maryland as the army waited to cross the river.

[19] Shortly after Gettysburg, Lee named his military secretary, Brigadier General Armistead L. Long, chief of artillery of II Corps.

[22] William S. White, of the Third Richmond Howitzers, wrote: Our battalion is called upon to mourn the loss of its former brave and efficient commander.

Colonel John Thompson Brown, who fell early this morning shot through the head by a musket ball.

Holding that position until the formation of the First Reg-iment Virginia Artillery, he was promoted to a Majority, and then, in the reorganization of the army, in the Spring of 1862, he was made Colonel of that regiment.