Schwalm, L. A. (February 01, 2011). Surviving Wartime Emancipation: African Americans and the Cost of Civil War. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 39, 1, 21-27.
Leslie Schwalm is a professor at the University of Iowa and has written books addressing African American slavery. Leslie notes that civil war has direct and indirect costs. However, they contributed to the destruction of slavery. According to the article, the war brought about negative impacts such as health crisis, injury, trauma, lasting consequences for black civilians. Most of the black American soldiers in the war had fled slavery as they enrolled themselves as soldiers in the civil War. While taking part in the war, many African American soldiers suffered illnesses thus they became too weak to fight. They were sent back to camps, faced prejudice, and were not administered medication timely, which resulted to deaths in masses.
Leslie adds that the generals at the barracks made inferences that the African American men were too weak or infirm as soldiers. However, the cause of the deaths of African Americans could be attributed to fewer medical professionals allocated to black regiments in the war. Furthermore, discrimination against black soldiers was evident in hospitals during the war. Whenever the black soldiers needed medical attention they had to seek services mostly from qualified white doctors who mistreated and lacked humanity towards them. The article gives an account of medicine being tampered with and infected before being administered to black soldiers in the war. The tools of measurement used in analyzing the black soldiers’ ability to endure war fare included medical autopsies and reports, and observations conducted by medical practitioners. The author asserts that although the Civil War was thought to emancipate African American slaves, it caused several negative consequences aside from providing freedom from slavery.