John Courtney Moore (early 1830s – October 27, 1915) was an American politician and journalist who served as the first mayor of Denver from 1859 to 1861.

Moore was a newspaper journalist and publisher, working on papers in Denver, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Pueblo, Colorado.

During the American Civil War, he was a judge adjutant general and colonel in the Confederate States Army.

[5][6] His father was John S. Moore, a physician, who co-founded the first medical college west of the Mississippi River.

[7] He founded the Denver Mountaineer, a daily Democratic newspaper which held strong Southern viewpoints.

He fought in the Battle of Pea Ridge in the battery of soldiers from St. Louis under Captain Emmett MacDonald.

[3] He and his wife had four children, Harris, Courtney, Sidney, and a daughter who married Charles Cole.

He died on October 27, 1915, at the home of his son Harris L. Moore in Excelsior Springs, Missouri.