Bodo Otto

Bodo Otto (17111787) was a Senior Surgeon of the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Early life, family, and education Bodo Otto was born in Germany in 1709. He was a member of the College of Surgeons at Lueneberg and was in charge of all prisoners that were held at Fortress Kalenberg in Germany.

Dr. Otto was married three times:

He was one of the first trained and skilled surgeons and physicians in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Public service Dr. 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 Dr. Otto to establish a military hospital in Trenton, New Jersey for the treatment of smallpox. He was also assigned to the Continental hospital at Valley Forge and located in the Uwchlan Meetinghouse. Later during the Revolution, Dr. 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. 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.