Fourty-four year old Bodo Otto, Sr., his wife and children moved from Germany to the English Colonies in 1755, he ws 44. He opened a medical practice in Philadelphia; it quickly became prosperous due to the large German population in the city.
Dr. Otto, Sr. believed in American liberty and volunteered for the Continental Army at the age of 65, offering his medical services.
He was with General George Washington during the Crossing of the Delaware on December 25, 1776, then at the Battle of Trenton, where he treated the wounded from both the American and British sides.
When small pox ran rampant, Dr. Otto, Sr. set up inoculations for the American soldiers.
At Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-1778, General Washington appointed him Head Surgeon of the Continental Army.
After the Battle of Monmouth in June of 1778, he established a hospital in Yellow Springs, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Otto, Sr. retired from the army at the age of 70 years old. He practiced medicine in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1787.
Dr. Otto, Sr. had three sons, including Bodo, Jr. They were all doctors in the Continental Army and worked alongside their father at the hospital and out in the field. Dr. Bodo Otto, Jr. was a Colonel in the Militia Company, participating in battles at Swedesboro, Woodbury and National Park (the Battle of Red Bank).
My husband and I recently visited Dr. Otto, Jr.’s house in Mickleton, New Jersey which he purchased in 1772, opening a medical practice in his home. It was largely destroyed during the American Revolution in 1778 when it was burned down by Loyalists. When one of the Tories who was responsible for the fire was to be hanged, Dr. Otto, Jr. rode his horse all night in a thunderstorm to the site of the execution, stopping it right at the last minute.
When Dr. Otto, Jr. sold the property that same year the new owner promptly rebuilt the house.
As Mister Rain and I pulled up in front of the home, he, who rarely exclaims, exclaimed, “Wow! This is the best looking house I have seen from that period.” Being married to me, that is saying a lot. This was most definitely not my husband’s first colonial building!
Although a private residence today, I found the listing for when the home last sold in 2024, showing its interior. Click here.
Dr. Otto, Jr. got a heavy cold that turned into consumption, what we know as tuberulosis. He died a slow, lingering death in 1782. He was only 33. it is most likely he caught TB during his work at the Yellow Springs Hospital.
In his short life he was a surgeon, legislator, judge and militia Colonel.
His father, Dr. Bodo Otto, Sr. attended the funeral of his son, where it is said he “wept bitterly.”
His tombstone reads, in part:
“Think what the father, husband and friend should be,
In each enduring sense that was he.”
Like so many, Dr. Bodo Otto, Sr. brought his family to the English Colonies in the hope for a better life for all of them. Without him and his sons, there would be no America and, therefore, no American Dream for any of us.
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