Joseph G. Sanders was a soldier from the U.S. state of Alabama who served as a commissioned officer in both the Confederate and Union armies during the U.S. Civil War. After initially joining the 31st Georgia Infantry Regiment as a private in 1861, he was elected captain of Company C in that regiment a year later, fighting for the South until he resigned his commission in January 1864 and returned to Alabama, claiming ill health. Once he had returned home, Sanders switched sides and joined the 1st Regiment of Florida Cavalry (U.S.), where he obtained a provisional commission as a Second Lieutenant in F Company of that regiment. While it was not unheard-of for soldiers of one side to enlist in the army of the other, it was virtually unheard-of for an officer of one force to be commissioned