A surveyor, engineer and architect, Pitzman came to the U.S. in 1854. Born in Halberstadt, Prussia, to Frederick G. and Amalia Pitzman, he was the youngest of five children. Immigrating with his mother and two sisters, they settled first in Milwaukee, but his brother-in-law, Charles E. Solomon, who also immigrated from Prussia, convinced him to move to St. Louis which had a thriving German community, estimated at around 7,000. He began working as a surveyor for Solomon, who was the St. Louis City Engineer, but soon went into business for himself. Pitzman’s Company of Surveyors and Engineers proved a success, so much so that it is still in existence today. When General John C. Fremont came to St. Louis in 1861 after the start of the American Civil War, Pitzman volunteered his services. He became a first lieutenant of the Topographical Engineers and went with General Henry Hallack to Shiloh, Tennessee, where Pitzman was tasked with creating a topographical map as part of the official report of the battle, all within four days! After recovering from typhoid fever, he joined General Ulysses Grant crossing the Mississippi River and advancing on Vicksburg. Here he was wounded while surveying the Vicksburg siege lines and was sent home to recuperate. While still on crutches he accepted the job of county surveyor, but he returned as a major to help supervise the construction of fortifications near Washington, Missouri, before leaving the military.
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