The recruits quickly assimilated into the life of a soldier. Each company (about 100 men) was assigned to the long, narrow barracks. At one end of the barracks was the kitchen and store-rooms and at the other end were two or three small rooms for the officers. Charles Johnson described the rest of the barracks this way:
Through the center of the main room ran a long table made of rough boards, and from which all ate. At the sides of this main room were box-like structures, open in front, having tiers of boards upon which two men slept side by side. These we called bunks. Thus it was that our long, narrow barracks were not unlike a sleeping-car and dining-car combined. The barracks were made of rough boards put on "up-and-down," with no ceiling overhead save the shingle roof, and windows and doors were few, purposely, to save space.
