Joseph Jones Reynolds (1822-1899) was born in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, and died in Washington, D.C. He was an engineer, educator, and military officer who served in the American Civil War and American Frontier Wars. He graduated from The United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, in 1843 and taught there from 1846-1855. He married Mary Elizabeth Bainbridge in New York, New York, in 1846. Reynolds taught mechanics and engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1857-1860. During the Civil War, he rose to the rank of major general for the Union Army, and after the war he served in various posts in Indian Territory. For a brief period in 1871, he was a United States Senator from Texas, losing his seat when the election was contested. Reynolds retired in 1877, following a court martial inquiry into his conduct during the Powder River campaign against the Sioux where he was found guilty of all charges. His wife wrote to Mary Baker Eddy in 1886 to request Christian Science materials and ended up receiving copies of The Christian Science Journal, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, and Defence of Christian Science. Based on the records available, we have found no further information concerning his involvement with Christian Science.

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