Frederick William, Baron de Woedtke, born in Prussia about 1740, was
for many years an officer in the army of Frederick the Great, where
he attained the rank of major. Coming to Philadelphia with strong
letters of recommendation to Benjamin Franklin from friends of America
in Paris, he received from Congress a commission as brigadier-general
in the Continental army on the 16th of March, 1776, and was ordered
to join the Northern army under Schuyler. About three weeks before
his death he took part in a council of war which decided, against
the advice of Stark, Poor, Maxwell, and eighteen inferior officers,
to abandon Crown Point and to retire to the strong ground opposite
Ticonderoga, afterward known as Mount Independence. He died near Lake
George, New York, on the 31st of July, 1776, and was buried with the
honors due to his rank.