John Chase was an American medical doctor and commander of the Colorado National Guard. He was the commander of the Colorado National Guard in several of the most significant confrontations between American military forces and organized labor — the Colorado Labor Wars of 1903–1904, Colorado Coalfield War, and the Ludlow Massacre of April 1914. He was a graduate of the University of Michigan where he played college football for the 1879 Michigan Wolverines football team, the first football team to represent the University of Michigan, and was captain of the 1880 team.

The Colorado Labor Wars were a series of labor strikes in 1903 and 1904 in the U.S. state of Colorado, by gold and silver miners and mill workers represented by the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). Opposing the WFM were associations of mine owners and businessmen at each location, supported by the Colorado state government. The strikes were notable and controversial for the accompanying violence, and the imposition of martial law by the Colorado National Guard in order to put down the strikes.