The fort was abandoned by U.S. forces at the start of the Civil War and again by Confederate forces in 1862. The U.S. Army’s 9th Cavalry Regiment of African American soldiers, under General Edwin Hatch, reoccupied the fort in 1867 and erected several buildings with stone foundations, adobe walls, and dirt roofs over wood framing. Only seven buildings remain: an 1886 guardhouse; three of seven officers’ quarters built in 1867–1868; two barracks buildings, reconstructed on foundations of the original five built between 1866 and 1870; and two reconstructed kitchen buildings (originally there were five). Exhibits on army life and the history of the post have been installed in the barracks buildings. Two of the officers’ houses are now private homes. All of the buildings except the guardhouse are built of adobe. The guardhouse is made of rock-faced limestone quarried locally, and the lumber used in its construction was brought by oxcart from Indianola (a principal port on the Gulf Coast). Adjacent streets and residential blocks to the north and east cover much of what had been the fort grounds.