Infantry Barracks

Infantry Barracks. Fort Buford State Historic Site. The building you are now facing a reconstruction of a mid-1870s infantry barracks. It has been reconstructed where an original barracks once stood. , In 1867, adobe barracks were constructed to house Fort Buford's enlisted men. Adobe, a useful material in the Southwest, did not stand up well to the elements in Dakota Territory. Within two years Fort Buford's barracks were beginning to fall apart. After much indecision, the adobe barracks were remodeled in 1873. Vertical siding, more windows, and a wood-framed kitchen/mess hall addition were the major improvements. The adobe barracks that once stood here also served as the fort's hospital from 1868 to 1871. In 1880, the building was again remodeled into a combination post library, school house, and court-martial room. , In addition to their traditional military duties, enlisted men sometimes built and maintained fort buildings, put up hay for the fort's livestock, cut wood for fuel, guarded the fort's cattle herd, tended the post garden, carried mail, and constructed telegraph lines. Soldiers were picked at random, and without prior training, to serve as cooks and sometimes as hospital stewards. However, enlisted live was not all work. Band and theatrical performances, baseball and hunting were some of the activities that helped ease the monotony of life at the fort.