The barracks housed the 123 men of the two companies of the 6th Infantry who built Fort McKeen. These soldiers prepared their meals and ate in the mess hall and kitchen at the rear of the building. They slept in bunks with bed-sacks filled with hay and covered with wool blankets, and used wool greatcoats as blankets or pillows. Clothing hung on peg strips along the walls by the bunks, and personal items were locked in small footlockers. Privacy was nonexistent, and the enlisted men's quarters were uncomfortable, hot in summer and almost unbearably cold in winter. After the long, cold winters, soldiers looked forward to spring and the excitement of a potential campaign.