Makeshift Living Quarters

Makeshift Living Quarters. . During the Civil War, soldiers lived in second-tier casemates like this one as the Union Army utilized every square inch of the incomplete fort. These rooms were breezier than the tents on the parade ground, but the mosquitoes, flies, and stench could be just as bad. The second tier was framed but never finished because of fears that the foundation and cistern system could not withstand the weight of additional bricks and cannon. Contract slave labor quarried coral from the surrounding waters to use in the concrete floor. This coral fill is still visible today., We...occupy a room in the fort about 22 ft. square. We have chairs and tables of our own manufacture...bunks with good clean blankets and musketo [sic] bars. , William S. Stebbins, 110th New York Volunteers, April 15, 1864, (captions) , Some casemates facing the parade ground were walled in with bricks or wood in the mid-1800s for use as living quarters., Sometimes archways were converted into windows or walls in the makeshift quarters. Look for evidence of changes in the casemates as you tour the fort.