Joseph B. Killebrew (1831-1906) was a Tennessee agriculturalist, geologist, and writer who later became the state’s first Commissioner of Agriculture, widely known by the honorific title ‘Colonel.’ During the Civil War he remained a civilian on his Montgomery County farm, avoiding formal allegiance to either army while paying wages to, and educating, his enslaved workers in preparation for emancipation. No record of him commanding Confederate or Union troops was found.