John Reuben Thompson (October 23, 1823 – April 30, 1873) was an American poet, journalist, editor and publisher.

After a recuperative trip to Scotland, went to London in 1864, became editor of the Index, a pro-Confederate newspaper, and promoted the Southern cause throughout various literary and social circles.

Thompson was introduced to Thomas Carlyle by Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie in October.

On the fourteenth, Thompson spent the first of many evenings at Carlyle's House, engaging in discourse which Carlyle so delighted in that he insisted upon accompanying Thompson to his hotel in the evening, where they conversed on various topics from Christopher Wren to Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

During his career and travels, Thompson had the chance to work closely with Edgar Allan Poe, and many notable Southern authors, such as William Gilmore Simms, Henry Timrod, Paul Hamilton Hayne and Philip Pendleton Cooke, as well as European authors.