Fort Abercrombie's second hospital was built in 1867 to replace the hospital building on the north side of the fort. Assistant Surgeon W.H. Gardner described it as a two-story frame building with clapboard siding, and in 1870 it was modified slightly by the addition of a front porch. An 1875 sketch shows the hospital, with the viewer facing its front porch, and behind it stood the bathroom, then known in military usage as a sink. The fort's hospital steward was a non-commissioned officer assigned to assist the surgeon in caring for patients and to oversee hospital property, including medicines. He wore a dress uniform bearing an emerald green half-chevron on the sleeve, with a caduceus, a winged staff with two serpents, as the symbol of the Medical Department.