Rank Has Its Privilege

 
 
 

 

            The status associated with rank was an obvious consideration in the fort's construction.  All officers quarters lined the east side of the parade grounds with the enlisted men's quarters lining the west side.  There was a Bachelor Officers Quarters building situated on each end of officer's row with Married Officers Quarters and Commanding Officers Quarters between them.  The southern most building was adorned with a tower that was ultimately to be adorned with castling, giving the structure a medieval appearance.   A similar tower was constructed on the west side of the parade grounds marking the first of five enlisted men’s barracks.  The Post Headquarters Building separated the second and third barracks on enlisted men’s row.  A large bathhouse was located directly behind the Headquarters Building.  Appearances, however, are where the similarity between the quarters ended.
            While the officers quarters consisted of what today would be called apartments, enlisted men lived in dormitories where several troops would occupy a common sleeping area.
Officers were also allowed to have housekeepers at the fort.  Unfortunately, it was hard to keep good help at Fort Assinniboine because single women were so few at the post they rarely remained single for long.
            A often repeated story tells of one commander writing a letter to his superiors requesting that additional housekeepers be sent to the fort.  In the letter he is to have requested they 

Infantry troops stand for inspection in 1883.
send him the ugliest women they could find, “preferably women that are cross-eyed,” he’s said.
            Married officers were assigned to one of the 13 two-story duplex homes along officer’s row.  The homes were comfortable, some might say even elegant structures.  Three additional homes of even more elegant designed lay in the center of officer’s row.  These housed the post commander and probably the commander of the cavalry troops stationed at the fort and the infantry commander.  Judging by its size and unique floor plan, the post commander probably lived in the middle home.  Two brick carriage houses were also built behind the three commander’s homes.


            Officers also enjoyed a cement sidewalk that ran the length of officer’s row.  A cement sidewalk was also built across the parade grounds so the commander and other officers could cross to the headquarters building without getting mud or snow on their boots.  It’s a fair guess that enlisted men were assigned to clear snow and ice from the sidewalk during the harsh winter months.
Other sidewalks constructed at the post were wood, including the one that ran the length of enlisted men’s row on the west side of the parade grounds.
            Married enlisted men also had quarters located on the northeast corner of the post.  It is often said, “if the military wanted its personnel to have wives, they would have issued them one.”  The point is well taken when one considers the small and isolated housing provided enlisted men and their wives.
            The lives of enlisted men’s wives are known to have been far less glamorous then that of officer’s wives.  No elegant afternoon teas upset the routine of an enlisted man’s wife.   An enlisted man’s pay did not allow their wives much
luxury.  Instead, most were employed in the fort laundry or worked other menial positions to help augment their husband’s meager paycheck.
            Non commissioned officers, or high-ranking NCOs, did live in somewhat better quarters than privates.  Located some distance behind the enlisted men’s barracks near the southwest corner of the post, the quarters for NCOs were both more private and more elegant than for lower ranks.