H. Charles McBarron Jr.

Known for his wide body of work featuring the United States Armed Forces, he is considered by many to have been the "dean of military illustrators",[1] McBarron was born in Chicago, where he lived all his life.

His favored artists and illustrators included Van Dyck, Winslow Homer, Howard Pyle, NC Wyeth, JC Leyendecker, Maxfield Parrish, and John Singer Sargent.

[citation needed] To support his studies, McBarron compiled an extensive personal library and collection of arms, armour, uniforms, artifacts, and research resources and archives.

To go along with his reading and research, McBarron visited and studied many of the major battlefields and historic sights located in the original Thirteen Colonies, the Western Reserve, and Canada.

The fellow historian surreptitiously pocketed McBarron's impromptu sketch, and later included its reproduction within an authoritative work on military dress.

[citation needed] McBarron often served as an expert consultant to the United States Marine Corps History Division, United States Army Center of Military History, the Smithsonian Institution, various military museums, and individual branches of the US Armed Forces.