Operating the eight hundred fifty-acre White Haven slave plantation required numerous outbuildings where Colonel Frederick Dent's enslaved African Americans labored and helped keep the farm self-sufficient before the Civil War. An ice house stored perishable foods with thick stone walls and a steep-pitched roof that provided insulation and drainage while keeping out warm air, and laborers cut large blocks of ice from rivers and ponds and packed them with sawdust so food usually stayed fresh through mid-summer. Most farms kept at least fifty chickens on a half-acre to produce enough eggs for family use and sale. Enslaved cook Mary Robinson used Grant's dog to help catch chickens for dinner, while Julia raised several special breeds as pets during her formative years. After the Civil War, hired laborers worked on the White Haven farm and earned about $400 a year selling chickens and eggs. The ice house, the chicken house, and the stone building with laundry and summer kitchen reflect the work necessary to operate the plantation. In May 1863, the U.S. War Department established the Bureau of Colored Troops, allowing men who had labored as slaves on farms like White Haven to become Union soldiers fighting for their own freedom. Slave owners could avoid being drafted by paying a fee and substituting one of their slaves for themselves. Five Regiments of Colored Troops were raised in Missouri and served from 1863 through 1866. In July 1863, after the victory at Vicksburg, Ulysses S. Grant wrote Brigadier General L. Thomas that he wanted as many of these negro regiments as possible, fully equipped, and was particularly desirous of organizing a regiment of Heavy Artillerists to garrison that place.