You Dream Every Night That I am Home: Letters from a young Civil War soldier to his wife in Eckley, a town in the anthracite coal fields of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
By Melanie Akren-Dickson
“Based on the real-life letters discovered in family records, You Dream Every Night That I am Home is the tragic story of a young Civil War soldier from the anthracite coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania/
John Williamson was a 22-year-old mule driver in a coal mine, newly married and with a baby on the way when he enlisted with Company K of the Pennsylvania 81st Infantry in the fall of 1861. His letters to his wife Hester form the core of this book.
Through his letters, we follow John on his journey from Eckley, Pennsylvania to training camp in Easton, Pennsylvania, on to Washington, D.C. and Alexandria, Virginia, and finally to the Virginia Penninsula. And with the author, we retrace his journey and see through then-and-now photos and images how some places have changed dramatically and others very little.
Insightful, observant, and sometimes humorous, we get to know John Williamson through his writing. As he heads into his final days, filled with battle, we are the unwitting observers of the approach to the inevitable conclusion.
Filled with images, maps, and other first-hand accounts, You Dream Every Night That I am Home offers a vivid account of the final weeks, days, and hours in the life of John Williamson and goes on to tell what happened with those around him after he was gone.
Melanie Akren-Dickson is also the author of Coal County Connections, a book about the signers of an 1880s autograph/friendship album from the anthracite coal region. John Williamson’s daughter Matilda was one of the signers.”
