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Black people who fled to the Union army didn't always die from novel or complex diseases, sometimes they just died due to a lack of basic necessities. Families such as the Miller family didn't experience being out of slavery as true freedom, as instead they were vulnerable to displacement, illness, and death. (Ezra C)
Most Civil War doctors did not have sufficient experience to tend to large armies and refugee groups. Many of them came from small practices or charitable hospitals, while others were still in the progress of working through their basic medical training. This led to them being ill-equipped to deal with epidemics that spread through the armies and others in the camps. (Ezra C)
I didn't think about the fact that though the Emancipation Proclamation freed some enslaved individuals, it provided no protection or support for them after the fact. Freed or escaped enslaved people would sometimes have to rely on Union provisions or feel that they had to join the Army to survive. (Caty)
There seems to be a cultural shift in the lives of formerly enslaved people, especially regarding medical health. Under the plantation system, the health of enslaved individuals was largely handled by themselves, through a more familial and community structure, which was disrupted once emancipation was secured. Through the massive transition into new spaces and a new cultural landscape, this system of medicine and community dynamic changed and shifted into something new. (Caty)