The commanding officer's quarters was one of the last stone structures built at Fort Dodge. Before it was completed, the officer and his family lived near the river in a four-room dugout, three feet below ground and four feet above, prompting Mrs. Henry T. Douglas to write on February 3, 1867, “The houses are more picturesque than elegant. We are living somewhat in the manner of prairie dogs.” This one-and-a-half story building contains a spacious center hall with two large rooms on each side, and its attached kitchen forms an ell. The lower level was heated with fireplaces, while the upper story has four rooms with windows just above the porch line that may have served as gun ports. The frame building on the right, built in the early 1870's, was an officers' quarters, and its twin once stood to the left of the stone house. The stone building has long been called Custer House, although Brevet Major General George A. Custer was never stationed at Fort Dodge; he did, however, lead the Seventh Cavalry from here to the Battle of the Washita.