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.