Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Woedtke, Frederick William

WOEDTKE, Frederick William (vet'-keh), Baron de, soldier, b. in Prussia, about 1740; d. near Lake George, N. Y., 31 July, 1776. He was for many years an officer in the army of Frederick the Great, attaining the rank of major. Coming to Philadelphia with letters of recommendation from friends of America in Paris, he was appointed a brigadier-general on 16 March, 1776, and ordered to join the Northern army. He took part, about three weeks before his death, in a council of war at Crown Point, which decided, against the advice of Col. John Stark and others, to evacuate that post and fall back on Mount Independence.