Guard House

[orngblsm]

Pards,

I'm looking for some info on guard houses...Were there any specific elements that needed to be included in the construction of these?...Original specs would be great. Thanks in advance...

Respectfully,

[Michigander]

Ryan;

I am sure that you are aware that in the "field" a guardhouse was usually a tent, or a similar structure to whatever else the troops were using for shelter. Can't find the quote right now but a recent book I read included a incident in which a drunk was placed in the guardhouse, & when the sgt went to check on him he "came out of the tent & attacked him". Hope this is of some assistance.
Richard Jones
Flagstaff, AZ

[orngblsm]

....Forgive me gentlemen...I should have specified guard house info for federals in winter camp

[hireddutchcutthroat]

You may want to contact Ft Tejon state park as they have two guard houses that are exact reprodudctions of the two that stood on the site.

[hardtack1864]

I have been in that guard house "Also the jail right next to it too and that was quite cozy :tounge_sm though that is another story", but from what I remember it was large enough to fit about 4 men and the sleeping area took up about half the guard house, though it would be best to check with Fort Tejon at www.forttejon.org. Also the sleeping area was very simple, just some planks raised about 2 feet off the ground, but as I said before check with the fort and I'm just trying to give you a general idea of what it looks like too.

[DixieLand1859]

As a follow up to Robert's post, here is a link to Ft. Tejon http://www.forttejon.org/ . There is a picture of the guardhouse on page 3 of the photo page.

Hope this helps,

[Yellowhammer]

Ryan,

The size and construction of a guard house could vary depending on a variety of circumstances including number of troops quartered, raw materials available etc...

For example, the guard house at a winter encampment might be a cabin, an existing structure, or just a tent or fly. In a fixed fortification, the size of the guardhouse would necessarily correspond to the number troops stationed there. Logically, a big post would necessitate a big guardhouse.

[hardtack1864]

Fort tejon was used quite a bit before and durning the war. Also with the amount of buildings there and a barracks made part way of stone, they were planning on being there a long time & soldiers stayed there I think a total of about 7 years.

[markj]

Greetings,

Something else to consider: "guard houses" could be pretty slap-dash, and lightweight, affairs. The "History of the Tenth Indiana" (1912) relates an anecdote about what happened to the guard house at Camp Tippecanoe, Indiana, when the regiment was organizing in September 1861. Viz: the camp happened to be perched on a high plateau of land overlooking the city and, in the course of a good-natured "mutiny" by 10th Indiana troops, a gaggle of them simply picked up the guard house and threw it into a nearby ravine!

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Kevin O'Beirne]

To generalize, a guardhouse for troops of the Army of the Potomac (i.e., 124th NY) in winter quarters was probably a log cabin built by the troops, or perhaps a stockaded tent. The guardhouse needed to be sufficient to "quarter" for a night the men of the camp police guard; specifically, 2/3 of the men of the camp police guard (the other 1/3 were posted as sentinels). To determine the size of a 'repro' guardhouse, you need to have an idea of how many men the regiment posted as camp guards during the given winter you're thinking about. For example, if the regiment posted 10 men as camp guards, the guardhouse needs to be sufficient for 24 men--20 privates, 2 corporals, 1 officer, and 1 sergeant. That's a good-sized hut compared to the "typical" soldier hut that quartered 4 or 6 or 8 men. While men would sleep in the guardhouse when they weren't posted as sentinels, the guardhouse no doubt had less "sleeping room" per man than the average hut, and probably had more "common space", such as room for a table.

Also bear in mind that the guardhouse was where prisoners were kept--the proverbial (in a "reenactor sense") disciplinary cases. Prisoners were confined in the guardhouse, perhaps in chains, for various lengths of time.

It's possible that "a guardhouse" could have been more than one hut or tent, of if so undoubtably they were adjacent to each other so that the guard could be quickly assembled and prisoners watched.

My advice is to consult the 124th's regimental history (assuming you are interested in a guardhouse for the group you portray) and see what it says or what clues it gives in terms of, 1) were camp guards regularly posted? Some units used them all the time and some almost never posted them when in winter quarters. 2) how many camp guards were posted? 3) was the regiment tight on discipline or not? This will give you a clue as to whether there were frequently prisoners confined in the guardhouse. 4) were prisoners indeed regularly confined in the guardhouse, or were other forms of punishment used instead?

It really varied on a regiment-by-regiment basis and with year during the war.

[markj]

To piggyback on Kevin's observations, I would suggest you avoid confining officers to your guard house. From what I've seen, they were usually confined to their tents by the regimental commander, or higher authority, unless the offense was really serious (e.g., murder, rape, etc.).

I found a hilarious pair of 1863 general orders dealing with this subject in the regimental books of the 32nd Tennessee (AoT). Seems a certain "Brevet Second Lieutenant" decided he didn't want to fall out for drill and the regimental commander confined him to his tent for a day or so until he showed the proper amount of contrition. Even funnier, shortly thereafter one of the first two men picked up for violating a new regimental order banning card playing was...the very same second lieutenant! To add icing on the cake, he was discovered playing cards with *horrors!* some enlisted men.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger