Rebecca Ruter Springer was 29 when the American Civil War started in 1861. When the war ended five years later, 620,000 soldiers and countless civilians lay dead. It is not surprising, therefore, that the dead and heaven were much considered over the next 40 years in the USA. And it was this spiritual climate that created Springer’s classic, Intra Muros, or as it is now generally known, My Dream of Heaven, written in 1898.

It was amidst ill health that her book was born. It was a vision given to her during severe illness; and she was unconscious for some days as she received the vision – which in the telling, covers a period of years. On reflection, she came to understand the short book as a series of basic truths about heaven, written in a simple and readable style, as if being told to a child.

In the latter half of 19th century America, there was huge interest in the after-life; and some doubts about it. The savagery of the Civil War had raised questions and left its mark on popular consciousness. Spiritualist séances were well attended, as the bereaved wondered about loved ones lost. Where were they? How were they? Springer was writing when spiritualism was at its peak, with an estimated 8 million followers in the USA and Europe.

As the Civil War came to a close, therefore, there were many evocations of heaven written to meet people’s needs for reassurance; and a number became best sellers. My Dream of Heaven was one of them, offering readers both confidence that God had prepared a place for them; and that awaiting them there was a wonderful reunion with loved ones who had gone before.

Springer did not bestow the status of ‘prophecy’ on her work; but rather intended it as comfort. As she said, she wrote the book with ‘the hope that it may comfort and uplift some who read, even as it did, and as its memory will ever do, for me. I submit the imperfect sketch of a most perfect vision.’

Reader’s reviews of this vision on Amazon suggest that for Christians and the bereaved in particular, Springer’s desire has been realised. Words like ‘comfort’, ‘uplifting’, ‘hope’, ‘consolation’ ‘life-changing’ and ‘encouragement’ ring like bells through the reactions. Years on, a dream simply told still apparently reaches people.

There is not a great deal known about Rebecca Ruter Springer. She was born in 1832, in Indianapolis, Indiana; and the daughter of a Methodist clergyman. She graduated from the Wesleyan Female College in 1850, and Methodist Christianity remained her spiritual home. In 1859, two years before the Civil War, she married William Springer, who went on to become a lawyer, and member of the Illinois General Assembly. They had one son, also called William, but Rebecca’s health was never good, and described by one person as ‘feeble’. In 1868, the couple went on a two-year European tour to improve her health, but it remained poor until her death. Springer wrote a number of other works, including Beachwood, Self, Songs by the Sea and Leon. But she is best remembered for My Dream of Heaven.