John Whistler (~1756 - 3 September 1829) was a soldier, born in Ulster, Ireland. He ran away from home when a boy, enlisted in the British army, and served under General John Burgoyne during the American Revolutionary War. Upon his return to England he was honorably discharged, and soon afterward, forming an attachment for a daughter of Sir Edward Bishop, a friend of his father, he eloped with her, and emigrated to America, settling at Hagerstown, Maryland. He shortly afterward entered the United States Army, served in the ranks, and was severely wounded in the disastrous campaign against the Indians in 1791. He was promoted to captain on 1 July 1797, and in the summer of 1803 was sent with his company of the 1st infantry from Fort Detroit to Lake Michigan, where, before the close of the year, he completed Fort Dearborn on the site of the future city of Chicago.

He was recalled to Detroit in 1810. Having attained the brevet rank of major, he was appointed in 1815 military store-keeper at Newport, Kentucky. In 1816, he was sent to Fort Wayne where he built the third fort there; having helped design the first two. Afterward he was at Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, Missouri, where he remained until his death.

Whistler's children included U.S. Army Colonel William Whistler (a commissioned officer from 1801-1861) and Lt. George Washington Whistler, a railroad designer in America and Russia. John Whistler's grandchildren included Union Brigadier-General Joseph Nelson Garland Whistler and James MacNeill Whistler, the artist.