Bodo Otto
{{short description|American physician}}
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Dr. Bodo Otto (1711{{mdash}}1787) was a Senior Surgeon of the Continental Army during the American Revolution.{{cite web| url= http://www.drbodootto.org/otto.html| title= More About Dr. Bodo Otto| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20070813145817/http://www.drbodootto.org/otto.html |archivedate=2007-08-13| url-status= dead| website= drbodootto.org| publisher= The Dr. Bodo Otto Family Association| date= | access-date= 2025-07-06}}
Early life, family and education
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Some of his medical training he received at the University of Göttingen.{{Cite web |url= http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/surgeons.html |title=Who served here? Physicians, Surgeons and Mates with Washington at Valley Forge |publisher= | website= ushistory.org |accessdate=3 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20101022004602/http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/surgeons.html |archivedate=22 October 2010 }} He resided in the Electorate of Hanover in what is now Germany and emigrated in 1755.
Dr. Otto was one of the early settlers of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Public service
Otto publicly opposed the Stamp Act and also served on the Berks County Committee of Public Safety.
Medical treatment for military
During the Revolution the Second Continental Congress appointed Otto to establish a military hospital in Trenton, New Jersey for the treatment of smallpox. He was present during the Battle of Long Island in 1776.{{Cite web |url=http://www.explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=229 |title=Historical Markers |author= |date= |publisher= |website= explorepahistory.com |accessdate=3 October 2010}} He was also assigned to the Continental hospital at Valley Forge and located in the Uwchlan Meetinghouse.{{cite web| url = https://www.dot7.state.pa.us/ce/SelectWelcome.asp| title = National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania| work = Cultural Resources Geographic Information System| publisher= State of Pennsylvania| format = Searchable database| access-date = 2012-11-13| archive-date = 2007-07-21| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070721014609/https://www.dot7.state.pa.us/ce/SelectWelcome.asp| url-status = dead}} Note: This includes {{cite web| url = https://www.dot7.state.pa.us/ce_imagery/phmc_scans/H001591_01H.pdf| title = National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Uwchlan Meetinghouse| accessdate = 2012-10-30| author = David C. Stacks| date = July 1973| url-status = dead| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20140322150550/https://www.dot7.state.pa.us/ce_imagery/phmc_scans/H001591_01H.pdf| archivedate = 2014-03-22}} Later during the Revolution, Otto was put in charge of the hospitals in Yellow Springs (in what is now Chester Springs, Pennsylvania), where he and one of his sons treated the ill soldiers from Valley Forge. Dr. Otto and one of his sons crossed the Delaware River with General Washington and his army and surprised Hessian soldiers encamped at Trenton on the morning of December 26, 1776. He was widely respected for selflessly treating wounded and dying Hessians. There were only a smattering of casualties on the American side.
Bodo used Trinity Lutheran Church in Reading, Pennsylvania, as a hospital to treat wounded soldiers from the Battle of Brandywine.
Otto did not retire from his Army service until February 1782 at age 70.
Personal life and demise
His three sons were also physicians for the Army, and they assisted him as Junior Surgeon and Surgeon Mates.
Otto died in 1787 and was buried in Reading, Pennsylvania, at the Trinity Lutheran Church (where he was a member) Cemetery.{{Cite web |url=http://www.drbodootto.org/sites.html|title=Historic Sites Associated With Dr. Bodo Otto| website= drbodootto.org |url-status=dead| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110726003720/http://www.drbodootto.org/sites.html| archivedate=26 July 2011| publisher= The Dr. Bodo Otto Family Association| date= | access-date= 2010-10-03}} Many of his surgical instruments as well as a portrait of him and his wife are in the collection of the Historical Society of Berks County in Reading.
A great-grandson, Judge William Tod Otto who moved from Philadelphia to settle in Indiana, served in US President Abraham Lincoln's administration as Assistant Secretary of the Interior. According to The New York Times, Judge Otto was one of twelve men permitted at Lincoln's bedside when he died.{{cite news| author= | title= Title to be provided |work= The New York Times| date= April 16, 1865| page= 1| url=}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.drbodootto.org/ DrBodoOtto.org], historical & genealogical website
- [http://www.explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=229 Pennsylvania historical marker]
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Category:People from Berks County, Pennsylvania
Category:German emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies
Category:Pennsylvania Dutch people
Category:18th-century American physicians
Category:Physicians in the American Revolution
Category:People from colonial Pennsylvania