Drafted as a 17-year-old Cantonist, Tsam served in Tomsk, Siberia. Tsam became an officer in 1873 (his fellow officers attested to his qualities in the promotion petitions) and, after forty-one years of service, he was retired with a rank and pension of colonel (полковник). The promotion was granted on the day of his retirement, so he would have the pension, but wouldn't be able to serve as a colonel. An able commander and administrator, he turned one of the worst companies of his regiment into one of the best. In spite of pressures, he never converted to the state religion of Russian Orthodox Christianity.