Known for her scientific eye as a paranormal investigator in and around the Hudson Valley, Zimmermann has returned to her roots as a historian. Her other skills as a scientist and researcher, combined with an open mind to follow and pay attention to unexplained coincidences, produced this fascinating true-life detective story. The result explores the connection between the author and a young Civil War soldier named Albion Brooks.
Readers will appreciate the depth of Zimmermann’s research. References and photos from Civil War battlefields and monuments stretch across the eastern part of the United States. Whether or not one is a fan of Civil War history, the human aspect is sure to touch hearts.
Brooks also included excerpts from Brooks’s Civil War diary. There are passages from generals and other important players of the time. Brooks was only 19 when he became a soldier for the Union Army, as noted in a passage dated Nov. 28, 1861. “Here I am a soldier for my country. … I have a fine lot of men in my tent.”
The ties between the author and the soldier began in the 1980s. At the time, she was considering her eventual retirement from her position as a researcher and scientist for a medical diagnostics company. Zimmermann thought she’d blend her love for writing with her already highly developed passion for military history. When the time came, she followed through on the plan.
In researching the topic of Civil War reenactors for an article, she came across an acquaintance who had recently purchased a trunk that contained what was thought of as “other people’s junk.” What Zimmermann found was “500 original documents spanning 200 years of American history.”
Rummaging through the papers to see if there was anything useful for her story, she noticed many letters referring to a Sgt. Albian Brooks. Zimmermann kept reading, and a friendship that would span 30 years began.
The Author and Soldier Bond
The more she dug into the story, the more it revealed about Brooks. Following his diary entries, the author’s investigative eye and military history brain eagerly traced his battlefield experiences.
Pulled into his story, his likeability, and the way others spoke about his goodness, she began to care for this young soldier. “History, if you are lucky, can be a very personal thing,” she wrote. “You can’t look at people’s photos, read their letters, or get your hands on the Holy Grail of original source material—a diary—and not be moved in some way.”
She’d read of his day-to-day experiences—the battles, the boredom, the marches, and the deaths he witnessed. Then she uncovered what would be his last diary entry, and another document recording his battlefield death. Zimmermann stopped cold, and wrote, “I was crying so hard that I could barely speak.”
The work builds the excitement of the investigation at a steady pace, backs up facts with documentation and photos, and makes one incredible soldier’s story come alive. But it’s more than that. It’s her belief that more connects us than can be seen, and coincidences may be signs meant to grab our attention.
Over the 30 years since she first encountered Brooks’s existence, the author can’t let it go. Something keeps nudging her to keep digging. Many of the incidents she experiences may encourage even the most die-hard skeptics to think twice.
Finding Connections
Like anyone who has lost a friend, Zimmermann was determined to find Brooks’s resting place to pay respect and have an ending to the book she knew must be written. While pouring through the documents and scouring internet sites for clues, she hit on a possible cemetery.
This cemetery was not just any place but in the state of Maine, where, coincidentally, the author’s ancestors owned property and which was always her favorite vacation spot.
The adventure of finding his headstone is thrilling, and the events of the day add credence to the notion that things may be occurring beyond our human comprehension.
What also becomes apparent in these pages is the team effort required to complete this story. The author noted the historians who confirmed facts and assisted in dissecting the local history. Websites like Find a Grave led Zimmermann to the resting places of many noted in the book, as well as the internet itself.
She described one pivotal moment in 2024: “I was astonished when one of my routine internet searches turned up the following in the archival collections of the library of Penn State University: Albion Brooks and Kingman family Civil War letters and related materials.” She added, “Words can’t describe my elation, shock, and disbelief.” She now had her book.
Zimmermann has authored over 30 books on science, history, the paranormal, and fiction. She has also made numerous appearances on television and radio and has won accolades for her work focusing on the Hudson Valley in New York.
Her background gives her the qualifications to pull this story together, make it credible, and hit the mark of its intention: Does the trauma of war, or the grief experienced on the battlefield, transcend time? Can powerful experiences leave a lasting imprint? It’s here that Zimmermann’s experience in the paranormal takes the story to another level that might not work in another author’s hands.
‘A Civil War Soldier and Me’
By Linda Zimmermann
Eagle Press, May 9, 2025
Paperback: 326 pages
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