In an incredible adventure, on May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls piloted a commandeered confederate ship through the mined Charleston Harbor, and past lookouts, before surrendering the ship to Commodore S.F. DuPont, commander of the federal fleet barricading Fort Sumter.

In doing so, Smalls helped convince President Lincoln that blacks could be "brave and strategic in pulling off military maneuvers,"  helping in the decision to allow African Americans to join the fight in the Civil War. 

Mr. Smalls is a Civil War hero, served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, ran a newspaper, and helped found a state Republican Party.

LINK:  Thomas-Lester, Avis (2012), "Civil War hero Robert Smalls seized the opportunity to be free," The Washington Post, March 2

Seventeen year old Bill Martin and friend Jon Curtis won the  2001 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair with their explanation of the mysterious "Angel Glow" that seemed to save wounded soldiers at Shiloh.

The April 6, 1862 Battle of Shiloh resulted in 16,000 wounded, and 3,000 dead.  As dusk fell, some of the wounded appeared to glow in a mysterious light.  These soldiers were later observed to heal more quickly than those that did not.  As a result, the protective light was nicknamed "Angel's Glow."  

Mr. Martin and Mr. Curtis were able to provide an explanation, with the help of Mr. Martin's mother, a specialist in luminescent bacteria as a microbiologist for the USDA Agricultural Research Service. 

LINK:  Soniak, Matt (2012), "Why Some Civil War Soldiers Glowed in the Dark," mental_floss, April 5

 

The College of Physicians of Philadelphia has opened a permanent Civil War medicine exhibition in its Mütter Museum. 

The "Broken Bodies, Suffering Spirits" collection assembles artifacts from the injury, death, and healing during America's civil war from one hundred fifty years ago. 


Link:  Grady, Denise (2014), "Stark Reminders of How Uncivil a War It Was", The New York Times, Jan. 20

Link:  "Broken Bodies, Suffering Spirits", Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia