The guardhouse was completed in 1848. It had a 10 foot porch along the front, and the interior was divided into four rooms, one of which was divided into three cells. These cells were used as solitary confinement cells and included one "dark" cell and two "light" cells. The other rooms were a prison room (for less serious cases), an officer of the day room, and an off-duty room where the guards rested when not on patrol or sentry duty. Soldiers could be arrested for such crimes as fighting, disobeying authority, deserting the post, sleeping on duty, shooting a wife, hunting on Indian land, stealing a goat, playing cards with a slave, or drinking excessively. Alcoholism was a common problem for the soldiers because of the availability of liquor in the "grog shops" just five miles across the Missouri border. By the time of the Civil War, the city was using the guardhouse as a jail. but the number of injured soldiers brought to Fort Scott during the Civil War necessitated a change and the guardhouse was used as part of the Army General Hospital from 1861-1865. Following the war, the City of Fort Scott resumed its control of the building and the guardhouse became the city jail for many years.