Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - An haifi Lins ne a Wachstedt, wani karamin gari a cikin abin da yanzu yake jihar Thuringia a tsakiyar Jamus. A shekara ta 1857, sa'an nan yana da shekaru 17, iyalinsa suka yi hijira zuwa Amurka. Iyalinsa sun sayi gonar kusa da Milwaukee, Wisconsin, inda ya yi aiki kuma ya zauna har zuwa 1859. A shekara ta 1859, ya tafi St. Louis, sa'an nan kuma zuwa New Orleans, inda ya kasance har zuwa yakin basasar Amurka. Ya koma Milwaukee, kuma kwana uku bayan isowarsa, ya ba da kansa don yin aiki a cikin Union Army. An sanya shi a cikin 5th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment a Camp Randall, kuma, a watan Yulin 1861, ya yi tafiya zuwa gabashin wasan kwaikwayo na yaki. Yaƙe-yaƙe da ya shiga sun haɗa da Yaƙin Lee's Mill, Yaƙin Williamsburg, Yaƙin Savage's Station
, Yaƙin White Oak Swamp, Yaƙin Malvern Hill, Yaƙin Crampton's Gap, Yaƙin Antietam, Yaƙin Fredericksburg, Yaƙin Gettysburg, Yaƙin Spotsylvania Court House, da kuma Yaƙin Cold Harbor, lokacin da ya ji rauni sosai. Bayan yakin, ya zauna a Eagle, Wisconsin, a cikin Waukesha County.