Bodo Otto

Dr. Bodo Otto (1711—1787) was a Senior Surgeon of the Continental Army during the American Revolution.^[1]

Bodo Otto

Early life, family and education

Some of his medical training he received at the University of Göttingen.^[2] He resided in the Electorate of Hanover in what is now Germany and emigrated in 1755.^[1]

Dr. Otto was one of the early settlers of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[1]

Public service

Otto publicly opposed the Stamp Act and also served on the Berks County Committee of Public Safety.^[3]

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.^[3] He was also assigned to the Continental hospital at Valley Forge and located in the Uwchlan Meetinghouse.^[4] 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.^[1] 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.^[1]

Personal life and demise

His three sons were also physicians for the Army, and they assisted him as Junior Surgeon and Surgeon Mates.^[1]

Otto died in 1787 and was buried in Reading, Pennsylvania, at the Trinity Lutheran Church (where he was a member) Cemetery.^[5] 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.^[6]

See also

• Bodo Otto House