Near this site stood two picket barracks, sixty feet by twenty feet, with thatched roofs. Built around 1850 as temporary quarters until stone barracks costing $5,000 could be erected, these dilapidated, leaky buildings were never replaced. For twenty years, various military units were quartered here, usually with only about fifty enlisted men stationed at a time, though sometimes there were more. The enlisted men endured poor housing, bad food, low pay, and lives filled with guard duty, patrolling, and fort construction. Most were Irish and German immigrants unable to find other work, and drunkenness and desertion were common. In 1854, a small revolt occurred at the fort when some drunken mounted riflemen took over a laundress's house one night and threatened to kill anyone who came to get them. Free time was spent gambling, reading, playing games, listening to music by the small Army band, hunting, and fishing. Fort Inge housed all three of the mounted groups shown above: U.S. Dragoons, U.S. Mounted Rifles, and 2nd Cavalry, a distinction held by very few forts.