Army life here demanded constant labor and strict discipline for thirteen dollars a month. Private Eddie Matthews of the 8th U.S. Cavalry in 1870 recalled a routine of guard duty, herding horses, grooming, meals taken quickly, roll calls at Retreat and Reveille, cleaning belts, guns, and brass, preparing for Guard Mount, enduring inspections by sergeants, escorting prisoners, emptying swill barrels, and standing night watch over stables, wagons, and government property. Each U-shaped barracks sheltered a company and contained two squad rooms with 21 bunks each, along with a kitchen and ration room, a company mess hall, a storeroom, an ordnance room, an orderly room, and even a small reading room. The ranks included men from Ireland, Germany, Canada, Scotland, England, France, and Switzerland, as well as Spanish-speaking New Mexican volunteers and black buffalo soldiers serving alongside farmers’ sons and city boys from the East. They accepted danger, harsh discipline, and frontier hardship in exchange for job security, government clothing, food, lodging, and five-year enlistments.