D.R. Brown

D. R. Brown was an American illustrator active during the Civil War era, best known for on the spot sketches that appeared in Harper’s Weekly. Working as a special artist, he recorded scenes from the Union occupied South in 1864, including crowded city streets, damaged buildings, and the daily movement of troops and civilians. His published views of Atlanta captured the look and feel of the city in wartime with a reporter’s urgency and a draftsman’s control of perspective.

Little is known about Brown’s personal life or training, which is common for field illustrators of the period. His surviving prints show careful attention to architectural detail and human gesture, the qualities engravers needed to translate drawings into clear, legible wood engravings for a mass audience. Through this work Brown helped shape how readers across the country pictured the war as it unfolded, leaving a concise but vivid record of a city and a nation in transition.