The Mystery of the Glow-in-the-Dark Civil War Soldiers

By Lauren Davis, 4-7-12

The American Civil War Battle of Shiloh left 16,000 soldiers dead and 3,000 soldiers wounded, and some of those wounded soldiers are part of an odd mystery. Some of the soldiers had eerily glowing wounds, which healed more quickly than the non-glowing wounds. So what strange battlefield science was at work?

It took two days and nights for the medics to reach all of the wounded soldiers in Shiloh, and some of the soldiers noticed that their wounds glowed in the darkness. Because the glowing wounds healed more quickly and cleanly, the mysterious force was termed "Angel's Glow."

It wasn't until 2001 that this 1862 mystery was finally solved. Seventeen-year-old Bill Martin was visiting Shiloh with his family, where he heard about the strange glow. His mother, microbiologist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service, had studied luminescent bacteria, and Martin wondered if similar bacteria might have been at work. With his friend Jon Curtis, Martin researched Photorhabdus luminescens, a type of bacteria that lives in the guts of parasitic nematodes. When nematodes vomit up the glowing bacteria, P. luminescens kills the other microbes living in the nematoad's host.

Normally, P. luminescens couldn't live in the human body since it dies at human body temperature. But Martin and Curtis, studying the historical records and the conditions in Shiloh, realized that the nighttime temperatures were low enough for the soldiers to develop hypothermia, allowing the bacteria to thrive in their bodies, kill off competing bacteria, and perhaps save the lives of their human hosts.

For solving this decades old mystery, Curtis and Martin won first place in the 2001 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

From: io9.gizmodo.com

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Angel’s Glow: Bioluminescence Uncovered on the Battlefield

By Radhika Ganeshan, 7-16-14

If battlegrounds could speak they would have many stories to tell.  In some cases the microbes found in those soils have lived on to separate fact from fiction. One such story has its origins in the Battle of Shiloh, which went down in history as one of the bloodiest battles fought during the American Civil War.  As the soldiers lay mortally wounded on the cold, hard grounds of Shiloh waiting for medical aid, they noticed a very strange phenomenon. Some of the wounds actually appeared to be glowing in the dark casting a faint light into the darkness of the battlefield. And the legend goes that soldiers with the glowing wounds had a better chance at survival and recovery from infections than their fellow brothers-in-arms whose wounds were not similarly luminescent. The seemingly protective effect of the mysterious light earned it the moniker “Angel’s Glow.”

Fast forward to the 21st century.

A high school student, named Bill Martin, was visiting the battlefield in Shiloh in the year 2001 and was intrigued by this story. Luckily for him, his mom was a microbiologist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service.  He was familiar with his mom’s work on luminescent bacteria that lived in the soil. They made the connection that the glowing wounds could in fact have been caused by the same microorganism that his mom was studying; Photorhabdus luminescens. Being a scientist herself, she encouraged her son to investigate this further.  What he uncovered was a remarkable explanation behind a story that was long regarded to be little more than a legend.

Martin and his friend, Jon Curtis, probed both the bacteria and the conditions during the Battle of Shiloh. They discovered that Photorhabdus luminescens, the bacteria that Martin’s mom studied and the one he thought might have something to do with the glowing wounds, shared a symbiotic life cycle with parasitic worms called nematodes. Nematodes are predators that burrow into insect larvae residing in the soil or on plant surfaces and take up residence in their blood vessels. There, the worms regurgitate the P. luminescens bacteria living inside their guts producing a soft blue light. The bacteria then release a cocktail of toxins that kill the insect host and suppress the growth of other microorganisms that might decompose the larval corpse. This allows P. luminescens and their nematode partner to feast on their prey’s carcass uninterrupted. When they are done devouring the insect host, the bacteria re-colonize the nematode’s guts and piggy-back with the worm as it bursts forth from the corpse in search of a new host. And what’s more – the glow emanated by the parasitized  insect is thought to lure in other insect prey.

Was it possible that the chemicals released by P. luminescens were responsible for helping the soldiers survive their horrific wounds? Based on the evidence that P. luminescens was present at Shiloh and the reports of the strange glow from the soldier wounds, Martin and Curtis hypothesized that the glowing bacteria invaded the soldiers’ wounds when nematodes preyed on insect larva who are naturally attracted to such injuries. The resulting infestation could have wiped out any competing, pathogenic bacteria found in wounds besides bathing them in a surreal glow.

The only caveat with the hypothesis was that P. luminescens cannot survive at human body temperatures. The young scientists had to come up with a novel explanation to fit this piece of the puzzle. The clue lay in the harsh conditions of the battlefield itself. The battle was fought in early April when temperatures were low and the grounds were wet with rain. The injured soldiers were left to the elements of nature and suffered from hypothermia. This would provide a perfect environment for P. luminescens to overtake and kill off harmful bacteria. Then, when the soldiers were transported to a warmer environment, their bodies would have naturally killed off the bug. For once, hypothermia was a good thing.

Often, a bacterial infection in an open wound would herald a fatal outcome. But this was an instance where the right bacterium at the right time was actually instrumental in saving lives. The soldiers at Shiloh should have been thanking their microbial buddies. But who knew back then that angels came in microscopic sizes? As for Martin and Curtis, they went on to win first place in team competition at the 2001 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Personally, I used this story as an example to my own children of how simple curiosity leads to solving bigger problems.

Image: 1888 Chromolithograph of the Battle of Shiloh, American Civil War, produced by L. Prang & Co.

From: promegaconnections.com

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Glowing Wounds at the Battle of Shiloh: The Strange Facts Behind the Legend of the Angel’s Glow

By Mark Weaver, 3-15-14

Wars breed blood and death on a massive scale. They also breed their share of strange stories. The American Civil War was no exception to this rule. Whether it was the governor who wanted to arm his troops with pikes on battlefields dominated by rifles and artillery, or the doctor who plotted to use biowarfare on Northern cities, the War Between States had its fair share of strange factual stories.

But another thing that warfare breeds is folklore. These apocryphal stories seem too good to be true. Once such bit of folklore that was largely dismissed as wishful thinking came from the Battle of Shiloh, which took place on April 6-7, 1862. The bloodiest battle up to that point in the war, two days of fighting produced 23,000 casualties on both sides. The battlefield itself was a boggy, mud soaked hellhole. Medical services on both Confederate and Union sides were woefully unprepared for the scale of the slaughter, and many wounded were left to fend for themselves among the watery morass.

When help finally managed to reach those poor souls, their rescuers noticed something odd. Their wounds gave off a faint glow in the night! Furthermore, the wounded whose injuries glowed had a better survival rate than their peers whose wounds did not. At a loss to explain what was happening, the flummoxed soldiers dubbed the strange phenomena “Angel’s Glow,” because it truly did seem to be the work of angels.

For a long while, the story was regarded as little more than folklore. That is, until seventeen year old Bill Martin heard the story, and asked his mother, Phyllis Martin, who is a microbiologist, if the bioluminescent soil bacteria she was studying, photorhabdus luminecens, might be responsible for the strange tale. She encouraged her son and his friend, John Curtis, to do further research and experiment to uncover the answer (because that’s what happens when mom is a scientist.) What they found was a remarkable explanation behind a story that was long regarded to be little more than a legend.

P. luminescens is an unlikely saviour. The bacteria hangs out in the guts of various nematode worm species, living in an odd symbiosis. The nematodes are predators of the soil, hunting down insect larva which they devour with P. luminescens’ help. The nematodes burrow into the unfortunate larva’s bloodstream, where they puke out their bacterial payload. P. luminescens releases toxins that kill the bug in short order, giving the nematode quick access to an insect buffet. These toxins also inhibit the growth of bacteria that would decompose the insect corpse, letting the germ and the worm have plenty of time to feast and multiply in their prey’s carcass.

It is this toxin that was likely responsible for helping the soldiers survive their horrific wounds. The hypothesis that Martin and Curtis developed claimed that the glowing bacteria entered soldier’s wounds when nematodes attacked the insect larva who are naturally attracted to such injuries. The resulting infestation would wipe out any of the normal, disease causing bacteria found in wounds.

The only problem with the hypothesis was that P. luminescens cannot survive at human body temperatures. The teenage scientists came up with a novel way to approach this problem.

For once, hypothermia was a good thing

Their answer lay in the muddy battlefield itself. The battle took place in early April, when temperatures were relatively low. Adding to the misery, it rained on and off throughout the battle. Injured men were left exposed to the elements for two days in some cases. By that time, hypothermia would have set in. That would have given P. luminescens time to take hold and kill off harmful bacteria. Then, when the soldiers were taken in and warmed back up, their bodies would have naturally killed off the bug. For once, hypothermia was a good thing.

With that, the teenagers managed to present a plausible explanation for the Angel’s Glow, a phenomena that was long thought to be little more than fanciful thinking by desperate men. The exact nature of the toxin the bacteria uses to perform its medical miracles has yet to be identified, but the duo are working to isolate it. Perhaps the bacteria that saved lives 150 years ago might be able to save even more today.

Sources:
“Glowing Wounds.” sciencenetlinks.com. AAAS ScienceNetLinks. March 15, 2014. <http://sciencenetlinks.com/science-news/science-updates/glowing-wounds/>

Byme, James. “Photorhabdus luminescens: The Angel’s Glow.” TheNakedScientists.com. February 25, 2011. The Naked Scientists. March 15, 2014. <http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/articles/article/angel-glow/>

“Shiloh.” CivilWar.Org. Civil War Trust. March 15, 2014. <http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/shiloh.html>

Image: A false color micrograph of a soybean cyst nematode and an egg. The species that lived symbiotically with P. luminescens would have looked similar.

From: oddlyhistorical.com

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Glowing Civil War Flesh Wounds

By Adrian, 4-4-16

When Civil War soldiers were injured at the Battle of Shiloh, their wounds emitted something they called Angel's Glow. If only they'd known the truth.

AN ILLUMINATING BATTLE

During the Civil War, the Battle of Shiloh produced more than 23,000 casualties and was the bloodiest battle in American history at the time.

On April 6, 1862, Confederate soldiers surprised Union soldiers camped near the Tennessee River. The Confederacy made a strong showing that first day, but Union reinforcements arrived the following day and ended the battle.

The fact that the South nearly won this decisive fight wasn’t what was so illuminating about the battle. Following the fight, the surviving soldiers were stuck waiting for medics to arrive, sitting in the rain and mud for two days straight. As night fell on the wounded survivors, they noticed something creepy: their wounds were glowing.

ANGEL’S GLOW

Ignoring the fact that glowing might not be the most tactically intelligent situation for war, the fact is that the human body shouldn’t glow. And as if a gaping flesh wound isn’t scary enough, imagine looking down at your bullet wound and seeing a light blue glow coming from it.

At a time when a small cut could get infected and kill you, I doubt glowing battle wounds would have been a welcome sight. But as the soldiers ended up in field hospitals, they started to notice that the ones afflicted by the glowing had a better survival rate than the ones who didn’t.

As a result, the strange phenomena came to be known as “Angel’s Glow.”

THE BRIGHT LIGHT OF TRUTH

While the soldiers might have thought it was the healing touch of angels causing their wounds to glow, the truth isn’t as comforting.

Nematodes, or roundworms, are a typically parasitic worm. There are thought to be a million different kinds of nematodes, but the ones in question fed on insects found in the dirt and mud in the area.

These nematodes hunt for insect larvae in the mud, burrow into their bodies, and then regurgitate a bacteria into the larvae which kills the host from the inside out. This bacteria is called Photorhabdus luminescens, and it’s bioluminescent and glows a soft blue.

The soldiers had nematodes living in their wounds vomiting up a kind of bacteria! The idea of having roundworms in your gunshot wound is gross, but the ability to see the bacteria they’re vomiting is a new kind of creepy.

Luckily for the soldiers, the P. luminescens were working to devour the germs and bacteria that otherwise would have lead to an infection. So having worms might not be a bad thing.. But just for the record, if I’m ever injured on a battlefield, I’d much rather a round of antibiotics to this alternative.

Image: Nematodes

From: ripleys.com

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The Glowing Wounds of the Battle of Shiloh

By Rebecca Beatrice Brooks, 4-2-12

The Battle of Shiloh was a major Civil War battle that occurred on April 6 and 7 of 1862 in Hardin County, Tennessee.

The battle occurred when 40,000 Confederate soldiers led by General Albert Sidney Johnston clashed with a line of Union soldiers occupying ground near Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River.

The Confederates drove the Union troops from their camps and slowly surrounded, captured, killed or wounded most of them. The following day, a large number of Union reinforcements arrived and completely overwhelmed the weakened Confederate troops, forcing them to flee the battlefield.

After the battle took place, over 16,000 wounded soldiers lay in the rain and cold mud for over two days as overwhelmed doctors and nurses struggled to locate and treat the soldiers.

Some of these wounded soldiers later reported that as they lay on the ground awaiting help, their wounds started to glow in the dark, according to the book The Aftermath of Battle: The Burial of the Civil War Dead:

“Many soldiers were forced to lie in the mud and muck for two days while waiting for the medics to get to them. When the sun went down, an eerie blue-green glow began to be seen in several areas of the darkened Tennessee battlefield. Strangely, the wounds of some of the stranded soldiers were emitting this glow. No one had any idea what this phenomenon might portend, but the doctors and nurses noticed that those whose wounds had glowed brightly in the dark had a significantly higher survival rate than those whose wounds were not illuminated. Additionally, the wounds healed at a faster rate, and more cleanly. Because of the seemingly magical properties, the coloration became known as ‘Angel’s Glow.'”

At the time, the reason for the glow was a mystery but doctors did note that the wounds that glowed healed faster than those that didn’t. The mystery remained unsolved until 2001, when two teenagers finally uncovered the source of the glow.

After the two teens, Billy Martin and John Curtis from Maryland, conducted a variety of scientific experiments, they discovered that the wounded soldiers became hypothermic as they lay in the mud.

This lower body temperature allowed for the growth of a bioluminescent bacterium called Photorhabadus luminescens, which inhibits pathogens, to develop in the wound.

This bacterium not only caused the wounds to glow but also prevented them from became gangrenous, which saved the lives and limbs of many soldiers.

Although it was common for wounded soldiers to lay on the battlefield for days after the battle’s end, glowing wounds were not a widespread phenomenon of the Civil War.

The glowing wounds of the Battle of Shiloh are mostly due to the wet, cold and muddy conditions of that April battle as well as the fact that this glowing bacterium is known to attach itself to a certain type of flatworm, called planaria, which is commonly found in the Shiloh area.

Since worms only come to the surface when it is wet, there was an abundance of the worms moving throughout the mud during and after the rainy battle.

The discovery won Martin and Curtis the top prize at the Siemens International Science Fair Competition. Curtis later went on to pursue a career in science and Martin pursued a degree in American history, specializing in the American Civil War.

Image: Chromolithograph of the Battle of Shiloh, circa 1888

From: civilwarsaga.com

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Angel's Glow at The Battle of Shiloh

From: americancivilwarstory.com

At the Battle of Shiloh a strange phenomenon took place which came be known as Angel's Glow...

As you may know, the Battle of Shiloh was a very bloody battle. With men desperately contesting the battle non-stop from dawn to dusk, the wounded and dying were left to find their own help. On top of that, neither army's medical services were prepared to deal with this level of carnage. As a result, many men were left lying in the field for days.

This was a wet swampy region, which meant many of the wounded spent their waiting hours lying in mud and foul water. To compound their misery, it also rained part of the time, especially the first night. All told, it took two days and two nights for all the wounded to be recovered from the battlefield at Shiloh.

So what does this have to do with Angel's Glow? Good question...

During the night, as men lay in the mud, muck, and rain, too wounded to crawl to safety, something strange began to happen...

Some men's wounds began to glow faintly!

For no apparent reason open, bloody wounds were giving off a faint greenish blue glow...

Spooky, right?

Well, the soldiers thought so too, until they were finally treated and began to recover. That is when things started to get even stranger...

It was then that medics discovered something odd. Men who reported that their wounds had been glowing during the night seemed to have definite advantages over those whose wounds did not glow. Those who had glowing wounds reportedly had a much higher survival rate than those who did not. Also, wounds that glowed seemed to have less infection, seemed to heal faster, and seemed to scar less than their non-glowing counterparts.

This was apparently not isolated to a few incidents either, because, it was prevalent enough to earn a nickname from soldiers. The glowing wounds were dubbed "Angel's Glow."

These stories have often been dismissed as folklore and legend, but now there seems to be a viable explanation for the legendary Angel's Glow...

The Angel's Glow Explanation...
An explanation for the possible cause of the Angel's Glow phenomenon was finally offered in 2001. This explanation was put forward by two high school students in their science fair project...

You read that right, SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT!!!

Kind of puts the old soda and vinegar volcano to shame, doesn't it?

The kids were 17 year old William Martin and 18 year old Jonathan Curtis. Granted, they got some assistance from Martin's microbiologist mother, but she insists that the idea was theirs and that they performed the experiments themselves...

So here is what they came up with...

It all starts with tiny parasitic worms called nematodes. These worms carry a bacteria called Photorhabdus luminescens, which glows in the dark. A nematodes preferred modus operandi is to burrow into an unsuspecting insect, puke out the Photorhabdus luminescens bacteria, wait for the bacteria to kill the insect, and then feast. What is interesting about this bacteria is that not only does it kill the insects, it tends to kill any competing bacteria it may find.

Therefore, the boys' theory was that nematodes were drawn to insects which might frequent gruesome wounds, and in puking bacteria into the insects also spilled some into the soldier's wounds. This would have caused the wounds to glow, while at the same time killing bacteria that causes gangrene and other dangerous infections. Which would in turn lead to better survival rates and quicker recovery.

There was one problem, Photorhabdus luminescens can not survive at warm temperatures like those found in the human body. So, there is no way this bacteria could survive in the wounds of soldiers; because, their warmth would kill it. If this good bacteria is dead, it can't kill the bad bacteria, which means no more Angel's Glow.

The kids came up with a solution to this problem, too. The Battle of Shiloh took place in early April when temperatures were still fairly cool. Also, the men involved lain out for long periods of time in wet, cold, muddy ground and got rained on. It is likely that many soldiers developed hypothermia. This would drive down body temperatures to levels not lethal to the good bacteria.

This also provides an explanation for why the soldiers did not develop Photorhabdus luminescens infections. Yes, it can cause an infection just like any other bacteria. The "good" bacteria killed off all other infection causing pathogens in the wounds, but when the men were taken to the hospital and warmed up, they naturally killed off the Photorhabdus luminescens, preventing it from causing an infection. Men whose wounds didn't glow, probably never got cold enough for hypothermia to set in, preventing the good bacteria from taking hold. Who knew it could be good to develop hypothermia?

There you have the amazing story of Angel's Glow and what is believed to have caused it...

Image: Battle of Shiloh - April 6-7, 1862

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Why Some Civil War Soldiers Glowed in the Dark

From: MentalFloss.com

By the spring of 1862, a year into the American Civil War, Major General Ulysses S. Grant had pushed deep into Confederate territory along the Tennessee River. In early April, he was camped at Pittsburg Landing, near Shiloh, Tennessee, waiting for Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell’s army to meet up with him.

On the morning of April 6, Confederate troops based out of nearby Corinth, Mississippi, launched a surprise offensive against Grant’s troops, hoping to defeat them before the second army arrived. Grant’s men, augmented by the first arrivals from the Ohio, managed to hold some ground, though, and establish a battle line anchored with artillery. Fighting continued until after dark, and by the next morning, the full force of the Ohio had arrived and the Union outnumbered the Confederates by more than 10,000.

The Union troops began forcing the Confederates back, and while a counterattack stopped their advance it did not break their line. Eventually, the Southern commanders realized they could not win and fell back to Corinth until another offensive in August.

All told, the fighting at the Battle of Shiloh left more than 16,000 soldiers wounded and more 3,000 dead, and neither federal or Confederate medics were prepared for the carnage.

The bullet and bayonet wounds were bad enough on their own, but soldiers of the era were also prone to infections. Wounds contaminated by shrapnel or dirt became warm, moist refuges for bacteria, which could feast on a buffet of damaged tissue. After months marching and eating field rations on the battlefront, many soldiers’ immune systems were weakened and couldn’t fight off infection on their own. Even the army doctors couldn’t do much; microorganisms weren’t well understood and the germ theory of disease and antibiotics were still a few years away. Many soldiers died from infections that modern medicine would be able to nip in the bud.

A BRIGHT SPOT

Some of the Shiloh soldiers sat in the mud for two rainy days and nights waiting for the medics to get around to them. As dusk fell the first night, some of them noticed something very strange: their wounds were glowing, casting a faint light into the darkness of the battlefield. Even stranger, when the troops were eventually moved to field hospitals, those whose wounds glowed had a better survival rate and had their wounds heal more quickly and cleanly than their unilluminated brothers-in-arms. The seemingly protective effect of the mysterious light earned it the nickname “Angel’s Glow.”

In 2001, almost one hundred and forty years after the battle, seventeen-year-old Bill Martin was visiting the Shiloh battlefield with his family. When he heard about the glowing wounds, he asked his mom - a microbiologist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service who had studied luminescent bacteria that lived in soil - about it.

“So you know, he comes home and, 'Mom, you're working with a glowing bacteria. Could that have caused the glowing wounds?’” Martin told Science Netlinks. “And so, being a scientist, of course I said, ‘Well, you can do an experiment to find out.’”

And that’s just what Bill did.

He and his friend, Jon Curtis, did some research on both the bacteria and the conditions during the Battle of Shiloh. They learned that Photorhabdus luminescens, the bacteria that Bill’s mom studied and the one he thought might have something to do with the glowing wounds, live in the guts of parasitic worms called nematodes, and the two share a strange lifecycle. Nematodes hunt down insect larvae in the soil or on plant surfaces, burrow into their bodies, and take up residence in their blood vessels. There, they puke up the P. luminescens bacteria living inside them. Upon their release, the bacteria, which are bioluminescent and glow a soft blue, begin producing a number of chemicals that kill the insect host and suppress and kill all the other microorganisms already inside it. This leaves P. luminescens and their nematode partner to feed, grow and multiply without interruptions.

As the worms and the bacteria eat and eat and the insect corpse is more or less hollowed out, the nematode eats the bacteria. This isn’t a double cross, but part of the move to greener pastures. The bacteria re-colonize the nematode’s guts so they can hitch a ride as it bursts forth from the corpse in search of a new host.

The next meal shouldn’t be hard to find either, since P. luminescens already sent them an invitation to the party. Just before they got got back in their nematode taxi, P. luminescens were at critical mass in the insect corpse, and scientists think that that many glowing bacteria attract other insects to the body and make the nematode’s transition to a new host much easier.

A GOOD LIGHT

Looking at historical records of the battle, Bill and Jon figured out that the weather and soil conditions were right for both P. luminescens and their nematode partners. Their lab experiments with the bacteria, however, showed that they couldn’t live at human body temperature, making the soldiers’ wounds an inhospitable environment. Then they realized what some country music fans already knew: Tennessee in the spring is green and cool. Nighttime temperatures in early April would have been low enough for the soldiers who were out there in the rain for two days to get hypothermia, lowering their body temperature and giving P. luminescens a good home.

Based on the evidence for P. luminescens’s presence at Shiloh and the reports of the strange glow, the boys concluded that the bacteria, along with the nematodes, got into the soldiers’ wounds from the soil. This not only turned their wounds into night lights, but may have saved their lives. The chemical cocktail that P. luminescens uses to clear out its competition probably helped kill off other pathogens that might have infected the soldiers’ wounds. Since neither P. luminescens nor its associated nematode species are very infectious to humans, they would have soon been cleaned out by the immune system themselves (which is not to say you should be self-medicating with bacteria; P. luminescens infections can occur, and can result in some nasty ulcers). The soldiers shouldn’t have been thanking the angels so much as the microorganisms.

As for Bill and Jon, their study earned them first place in team competition at the 2001 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

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Science Update on Glowing Wounds

From: ScienceNetLinks.com

Many legends of our nation's history are just that, legends, with no basis in established fact. But at least one Civil War legend may have just been upgraded in authenticity, thanks to an idea from a high-school student. This Science Update reveals how tales that may sound like supernatural fiction could actually be science fact.

TRANSCRIPT
A healing light on the battlefield. I'm Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Seventeen year old Bill Martin was visiting Shiloh, a Civil War battlefield, and heard tales of soldiers whose wounds glowed with an eerie light. Bill's mom happens to be Phyllis Martin, a microbiologist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Maryland. She studies a soil bacterium called P. Luminescens that glows pale blue.

Martin:
So you know, he comes home and, 'Mom, you're working with a glowing bacteria. Could that have caused the glowing wounds?' And so, being a scientist, of course I said, "Well, you can do an experiment to find out."

So Bill and his friend, John Curtis, did historical research and found that the bacterium could indeed have lived in the conditions at Shiloh. But their lab experiments showed the bacterium doesn't live at body temperature.

Martin:
OK, well, this is a problem. But then they found that soldiers that would have been wounded would have had hypothermia, and therefore, the body temperature would be lower. And sure enough that was the key to the whole thing.

The bacterium appears to make an antibiotic that would have helped the soldiers' wounds to heal. Martin says the students are now working on identifying the compound.

For the American Association for the Advancement of Science, I'm Bob Hirshon.

MAKING SENSE OF THE RESEARCH
Many legends of our nation's history are just that,legends, with no basis in established fact. But at least one Civil War legend may have just been upgraded in authenticity, thanks to an idea from a high-school student. This Science Update reveals how tales that may sound like supernatural fiction could actually be science fact.

Bill Martin and his family had heard some folklore about Civil War soldiers with glow-in-the-dark wounds who appeared to have better survival rates than soldiers with nonglowing wounds. Bill wondered if the subject of his mother's research—Photorhabdus luminescens, a bacteria that glows—could have caused the glowing wounds. He and his friend, Jonathan Curtis, performed research and experiments to find out if Photorhabdus luminescens was present at Shiloh, a particular battlefield where the glowing wounds were reported.

Bill and Jonathan not only discovered that the Photorhabdus luminescens bacteria was probably present at the Battle of Shiloh, but also found that it could indeed have grown on the bodies of the wounded soldiers, since their body temperatures were lowered by hypothermia (Photorhabdus luminescens does not grow at normal human body temperature).

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