We know that the Contriband camps along the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers had a death rate higher that the Confederate Prisoner of War camp at Andersonville, Georgia. I suspect that sanitations was a problem in those camps and therefore a breeding ground for such diseases.

I know from the records of the 5th Kansas Cavalry at Pine Bluff late 63 to 65, there were a lot of deaths due to illness in that one regiment of only 300 men. This would make you wonder just how bad this was. I would bet that the 5th Kansas suffered more from this type of casuality than from all the engagements in took part in in southeast Arkansas. It may be one of the main reasons that the Contriband camps were moved outside of the protection of fortifications and to the outskirts of town.