Division of Dermatology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA.
The Civil War happened at the end of the medical dark ages or, conversely, at the beginning of the modern medical era. The story of how physicians and nurses of the time approached a number of cutaneous diseases of importance in the military context is related. Entities discussed include the army itch/camp itch phenomenon, sexually transmitted diseases, scurvy and nutritional disorders, smallpox and spurious vaccination, and hospital gangrene.