Joseph Brooks (November 1, 1821 – April 30, 1877) was a Methodist minister, newspaper editor, and politician who served as the 19th postmaster of Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1875 to 1877. During the Reconstruction Period in Arkansas (1864–74), Brooks and the "Brindle Tails" faction of the state's Republican Party led a coalition group in an attempt to overthrow Republican governor Elisha Baxter. The Spring 1874 coup d'état attempt came to be known as the Brooks–Baxter War.