Presents a brief history of military leather in South Carolina, including the manufacture of cuir bouilli, or boiled leather, buff leather, and patent leather. Describes red rot in vegetable-tanned leather, the vulnerability of cuir bouilli and rawhide to high relative humidity, and mold problems, sometimes linked to grease used as a preservative. A list of possible treatments is given: removing dust with a vacuum, killing fungus using pentachlorophenol, removing accumulations of heavy metals, mending tears, etc.