Not all men great men during the Civil War were presidents and generals. In fact, not all of the great men who served in the war are ever associated with the war afterwards. A great number of those who fought in the war as young men went on to greatness later in life, perhaps using the character they built on the battlefields to create a better life for themselves. One of these men was Joseph Pulitzer, who found fame with the pen, not the sword, and for who the top prize in journalism is today named for. Very few people know that he first came to this country to fight in the American Civil War. Joseph was very unlike the other immigrants who came over to fight in the war, as he had come from a wealthy family, and lived what may be termed the "good life", but left home to seek his independence.

Born August 10, 1847, in the prosperous marketing town of Mako, Hungary, he was the son of Philip Pulitzer, a wealthy Jewish grain dealer, who was also a Magyar, the predominant ethnic group in Hungary. When Joseph was six, his father retired and moved the family to Budapest, where Joseph and his sister were taught by private tutors. Things changed dramatically when his father died, and his mother remarried. Joseph could not get along with his new stepfather, and left home in early 1864 at the age of seventeen.

Pulitzer applied for a commission in the Austrian army, which he felt sure he would receive because he had three uncles who were officers in the service. He was, however, rejected, because he was underage, his eyesight was poor, and he was physically weak. He then traveled to France, then England, trying to enroll in their armed forces, and both times was rejected for the same reasons. He then returned to Hungary, where he tried to ship out as a sailor, and was again rejected. While in Hungary, Pulitzer came across agents from the Union army, recruiting foreigners to take the place of the sons of wealthy New Englanders in the battlefields. The fact that the army would accept almost anyone who could walk, and the fact that Pulitzer had heard that each recruit was to be paid $500 made the decision a quick one for him. What he did not know was that the draftees gave the money to the agents, who often kept it for themselves.

Pulitzer was ten days out of Hamburg on a crowded ship when he overheard the agent telling the captain in German that he intended to keep all money intended for the new recruits. Pulitzer was furious, and went to his fellow recruits for support, but they were more intent on getting to America than worrying about their $500. Pulitzer realized he’d have to act alone. While he still intended join the Union army, he intended to do so through his own enlisting, and he would receive the money he was rightly due.

With his intentions set, on a dark September night, as the ship pulled into Boston Harbor, the skinny seventeen year old slid down a rope on the edge of the ship into the cold water, with his few possessions in a bag over his shoulder. After the treacherous swim to shore, he hid out in a nearby barn. After spending the night in the barn, Pulitzer headed for New York City. He rode with farmers, who were happy to help him when he told them he planned to join the Union army. Once in New York, he located a recruiting booth that offered money for substitutes. The 6’2" Pulitzer, who was very skinny, with bony hands and shoulders, had a thin, hooked nose, an upward jutting chin, and long black hair. At the time he was less than six months past his seventeenth birthday, but when asked his age, he answered "eighteen" convincingly enough to be enlisted. Pulitzer was then asked if he could ride a horse, which he could, so he was enlisted in 1st New York Lincoln Cavalry on September 30, 1864. This was to be the beginning of quite possibly the worst eight months of his life.

The young, very green Pulitzer joined a veteran Lincoln cavalry unit that had seen much bloody action. From the very beginning, he was resented and make the goat of the unit. The company with which he had enlisted was made up mostly of German immigrants, who were quite openly anti-Semitic. Accordingly, he was openly disliked, ridiculed, verbally abused, and occasionally beaten. Pulitzer didn’t help his situation much. Always a strong willed person, he refused to accept such treatment, argued about orders (and sometimes defied them), and did his best to fight back when fellow soldiers attacked him. He also constantly complained in his broken English about everybody and everything associated with the army.

Fighting with his fellow soldier was nothing compared to what trouble that lay ahead for the young soldier, though. A corporal who called him a "dirty, lazy, big-mouthed swine" made the mistake of finishing off the insult with a comment on the character of Pulitzer’s mother. Joseph immediately struck the corporal with his fist, knocking him to the ground. A lieutenant who had seen the incident immediately took Pulitzer into custody, probably saving him from a severe beating from the corporal. Charged with the serious crime of striking a superior, Pulitzer was arrested and held under heavy guard. There is no telling what might have happened to Pulitzer at this point if a captain from another outfit had not interceded for him. The captain, who’s last name was Ramsey, liked to play chess, and Pulitzer was the only other man in camp who knew how to play. Ramsey took a liking to Pulitzer, and partly for this reason, and partly because the unit received orders to more out, the charges against him were dropped. When Ramsey moved on, he made Pulitzer promise to curb his criticisms and stop disobeying army regulations and officers. The boy kept his promise, which in addition to the arrival of a new officer, made his life easier.

This officer, Major Richard Hinton, needed an orderly, and by chance selected Pulitzer. This removed Pulitzer from harms way, he had his own small tent and rode near Hinton in all action. For the remainder of his time in the service, Pulitzer spent his time filing papers and issuing orders at Hinton’s command. When the war ended, Pulitzer was one of the riders in the 1st New York Cavalry as it rode in the gala victory parade in Washington on May 23, 1865.

After the war many soldiers went home, while others, like Pulitzer headed to New York City in search of work. He had trouble finding work in the city because of the fact that so many other soldiers were returning from the war, most of whom spoke much better English than, and looked more presentable than, Pulitzer. Even though he was unemployed and low on money, one day Pulitzer started into French’s Hotel at Park Row and Frankfort Street to get his shoes shined. A porter stopped him and told him he had to leave because his tattered uniform was up to the hotel’s dress code.

There was not a person alive, perhaps not even Pulitzer himself, who would have told you that he would go on to attain fame and fortune in the journalism industry, that he would become America’s greatest crusader against corruption. And who could have known that he would someday buy French’s Hotel in New York, tear it down, and build his $2 million skyscraper, headquarters to his influential newspaper, the World.