Talk:Frederick William, Baron de Woedtke

This article is rated Stub-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Biography

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This article has been automatically rated by a bot or other tool because one or more other projects use this class. Please ensure the assessment is correct before removing the `\|auto=` parameter.

Military history: Biography / North America / United States / Early Modern / American Revolution Start‑class

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles

Start

This article has been rated as Start-class on the project's quality scale.

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion not met Structure: criterion not met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
/
	Military biography task force
	North American military history task force
	United States military history task force
	Early Modern warfare task force (c. 1500 – c. 1800)
	American Revolutionary War task force

Age[edit]

I'm confused by this sentence and I hope someone can help.

He was said to have served for several years under Frederick II of Prussia, even though he was only twenty-six years old.

I read this as: he was only 26 years old when he came to the United States (previous sentence), and therefore his claim to have served for several years under Frederick the Great is suspect. However, the lede says Woedtke was born in 1740, which would make him ≈35 years old in 1776. Neither this sentence nor his birth year are cited, so I'm really not sure what to make of it. Canute (talk) 15:09, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Canute: I take this for an error that appears in Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War by Richard M. Ketchum and was repeated in the Wikipedia bio. If he was born in 1740, he would have been 36 in 1776, so this seems like an easy mistake for the author to have made. Other sources including Washington's Revolutionary War Generals by Stephen R. Taaffe, indicate that Woedtke was 36, which is presumably correct.

If other editors agree with my assessment, maybe an update to this line in the bio would be in order.

Billmckern (talk) 15:22, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks @Billmckern:. I just found a little bit of info on his Prussian service and rank, and deleted the sentence in question because it no longer made any sense with the additional context. Feel free to revert if you think this was an error. Canute (talk) 16:02, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]