During Colonel Thomas L. Crittenden's campaign against the Apache Indians, Wortman served as a sergeant with the 8th U.S. Cavalry and participated in several notable engagements during the conflict.
He worked as a civilian marble cutter prior to the start of the American Civil War when he enlisted in the Union Army in Boston, Massachusetts.
He worked in various jobs on the East Coast for around a year before joining the United States Army once more as a volunteer of the newly formed 8th U.S.
Arriving safely at Camp Whipple three weeks later, Wortman was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and assigned to the Quarter Master Corps.
He and his group found a small rancheria nearby, seemingly deserted like many other camps they had come across, where they were attacking in a poorly planned ambush by four Apaches.
[4] It was during this time that Wortman rode with Lieutenant Rufus Somerby to scout the areas around Lynx Creek and the Agua Fria River.
On September 9, 1868, he was part of Somerby's 16-man cavalry squad that successfully ambushed a group of Hualapais renegades killing two men and capturing four women.