James Bassett was a Canadian-born American Presbyterian missionary who, after graduating from Lane Theological Seminary and serving as a Civil War chaplain and pastor in the United States, devoted much of his life to mission work in the Ottoman Empire and Persia (now Iran). In 1872 he founded the first American mission in Tehran, oversaw the expansion of mission stations as senior missionary of the Eastern Persia Mission, authored several books on his experiences, compiled Persian hymns, and translated the Gospel of Matthew into the Turkmen language.