Photorhabdus luminescens & "Angel's Glow"

[Astronuc]

Claim:

During the bloody chaos of the American Civil War, one strange and almost miraculous phenomenon left soldiers and doctors completely baffled. After the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, some wounded soldiers noticed that their injuries glowed faintly in the dark, giving off an eerie bluish light. The mysterious effect soon became known as “Angel’s Glow,” a name inspired by the belief that divine forces were protecting the wounded from death.

The Battle of Shiloh was one of the war’s deadliest confrontations, fought in Tennessee amid mud, rain, and chaos. Many soldiers were left lying on the cold, wet ground for nearly two days before medical help arrived. Those whose wounds glowed were surprised to find that they healed faster and were less likely to develop infections. For years, no one could explain why.

More than a century later, scientists finally uncovered the truth. The glow was caused by a type of bioluminescent bacteria called Photorhabdus luminescens, carried by tiny parasitic worms that lived in the soil. The cold temperatures during the battle likely allowed the bacteria to thrive in the soldiers’ wounds, producing the faint light. Remarkably, the bacteria also secreted natural antibiotics, helping to kill harmful microbes and prevent deadly infections.

Ref: some claim on social media

However, according to a Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photorhabdus_luminescens):

P. luminescens is bioluminescent; however, the reason for this is not yet properly understood.

It has been reported that infection by this bacterium of the wounds of soldiers in the American Civil War at the Battle of Shiloh caused the wounds to glow, and that this aided the survival of the soldiers due to the production of antibiotics by P. luminescens.

There are no contemporary accounts of this phenomenon, meaning that it may be a myth or that conditions including low temperatures, low lighting, abundance of blood, time on battlefield, presence of specific vegetation, presence of rain and humidity, and the time to organize medical evacuation would prevent the phenomenon from recurring in current conditions.

https://www.vumc.org/lacy-lab/adventure-travel-guide-microbial-world/superpowers-p-luminescens

Interestingly, according to some stories, this symbiotic relationship even had a role in the Battle of Shiloh during the American Civil War. It was noticed that some soldiers’ wounds began to glow in the dark, and those with glowing wounds recovered much faster.

Further research is required.

 

[jedishrfu]

I saw this story recently, and I think they said a teenager from Maryland went to the battle site and tracked down the bacterium responsible for a science fair project. His mother was a microbiologist and helped in the search.

https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-event...-faster-healing-civil-war-wounds-that-glowed/

The above USDA article seems to carry more weight with information about the son and mother team than the one below:

https://theconfederatemuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/The-Angel-Glow-Shiloh.pdf

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In contrast, Snopes said it's a suspicious story that sounds true. Still, historians can't find any reference to Angel's Glow in the contemporary accounts by witnesses to the battle and its aftermath.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/10/26/angels-glow-civil-war/

And on Reddit, there's a similar consensus:




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Acoustic Shadows

I'm more inclined to believe the acoustics stories of the time on a rare phenomenon, known as acoustic shadows:

https://acoustics.org/pressroom/httpdocs/136th/ross.htm

On May 31, 1862, Confederate forces under General Joseph Johnston attempted an attack on Union forces to the east of Richmond. The ensuing battle, known as Seven Pines (or Fair Oaks), was one of Johnston's rare offensive forays during the course of the war. More comfortable with the defensive, Johnston on this occasion concocted one of the most confusing, poorly executed tactical plans of the war.

Meant to synchronize forces on three converging attack routes, Confederate Major Generals James Longstreet, Benjamin Huger, and D.H. Hill got their men tangled and then bickered over who had priority on the various routes. Even after this disastrous start, the Confederates still might have prevailed but for an unusual occurrence. Johnston planned to send reinforcements under Brigadier General W.H.C. Whiting on a flank attack whenever sounds of musketry were heard from Hill's troops, two miles southeast of Johnston's headquarters. The attack, if it had occurred in a timely fashion, might have created a Confederate victory - but Johnston never heard the sounds of a battle which was raging in full force.

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