John Watson Morton (September 19, 1842 – November 21, 1914) was an American Confederate military officer, farmer and politician.

He served as captain of artillery under General Nathan Bedford Forrest in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

Afterward he was the founder of the Nashville chapter of the Ku Klux Klan during the Reconstruction era.

Although Morton studied medicine after the war and practiced as a physician for two years, he decided to go into farming.

[3] At the outset of the American Civil War of 1861-1865, he joined the Rock City Guards, a Nashville militia.

[3] He subsequently served as the captain of artillery under General Nathan Bedford Forrest in the Confederate States Army.

[1] Morton initiated former general Nathan Bedford Forrest into the KKK,[1][4][5] in Room 10 of the Maxwell House Hotel in fall of 1866.