The family was of German origin, his great grandfather, Jacob Eicholtz, left the Palatinate, Germany, and coming to Pennsylvania, where he settled in Lancaster county, in 1733.

Eicholtz studied civil engineering at the Moravian Academy at Lititz, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.

[1] The US Congress had approved and Act on July 3, 1866, authorizing the railway to extend the railroad westward along the Smoky Hill River to Denver, Colorado.

[2] In 1868, Eicholtz became superintendent of bridge-building and remained with the project until its completion at Promontory Point and the Golden Spike event on May 10, 1869.

Eicholtz left the Army in 1866 as acting chief engineer of military railroads of the Division of the Mississippi.