Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I whanau a Lins ki Wachstedt, he taone iti i te rohe o Thuringia i te pokapū o Tiamana. I te tau 1857, i te 17 o ona tau, ka heke atu tona whanau ki te United States. I hokona e tona whanau he pāmu tata ki Milwaukee, Wisconsin, i reira ia i mahi ai, i noho ai tae noa ki te 1859. I te tau 1859, ka haere ia ki St. Louis, ka haere ki New Orleans, i noho ai ia tae noa ki te pakarutanga o te Pakanga o Amerika. I hoki ia ki Milwaukee, a, e toru nga ra i muri i tona taenga mai, i tono ia mo te mahi i roto i te Union Army. I whakauruhia ia ki te 5th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment i Camp Randall, a, i te Hurae 1861, i haere ia mo te taiwhanga rawhiti o te pakanga. Ko nga pakanga i uru atu ai ia ko te Pakanga o Lee's Mill, te Pakanga o Williamsburg, te
Ko te Pakanga o Savage's Station, te Pakanga o White Oak Swamp, te Pakanga o Malvern Hill, te Pakanga o Crampton's Gap, te Pakanga o Antietam, te Pakanga o Fredericksburg, te Pakanga o Gettysburg, te Pakanga o Spotsylvania Court House, me te Pakanga o Cold Harbor, i whara kino ai ia. Whai muri i te pakanga, i noho ia ki Eagle, Wisconsin, i Waukesha County.