The 19th Wisconsin Infantry was assigned to guard Confederate prisoners at Camp Randall until May 1862, and then headed to Washington, D.C., in June for service in the eastern theater of the war. They were assigned to the Union garrison at Norfolk, Virginia, and participated in several of the sieges and battles along Virginia's Atlantic coast.[3] In the Spring of 1864, they were assigned to XVIII Corps and proceeded up the James River to join the Siege of Petersburg. After nine months entrenched around Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia, they took the cities in April 1865, and were then assigned to garrison duty in northern Virginia until the end of the war.[3] Puhlman was promoted to first lieutenant in June 1863, and captain in April 1864.[2]
During the American Civil War, Puhlman served in the 19th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Puhlman served as mayor of Plymouth, Wisconsin. In 1873, Puhlman served in the Wisconsin State Assembly and was a Democrat. In 1885, Puhlman sold his business and moved to Sanborn, Iowa, where he started a new mill. In 1887, Puhlman moved to Chicago, Illinois, and worked for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company until 1912. Puhlman died at a soldiers sanitarium in Sawtelle, California. He was buried in Plymouth, Wisconsin.[4][5]