Halloween in the Spring. A Series. Part 2: The Real Ichabod Crane
Photographer unknown. Daguerreotype of Ichabod B. Crane. Official U.S. military portrait. Colonel, 1st Artillery, U.S. Army in 1848. This stern-looking character is Colonel Ichabod Bennet Crane (1787-1857). Yes, Ichabod Crane was a REAL person! Colonel Crane was born in Elizabethtown (Elizabeth), NJ in 1787. He joined the US Marine Corps at a very young age and served as a Captain in the US Army during the War of 1812. He eventually rose to the rank of colonel in 1843 and fought in the Mexican-American War. Crane was not the sniveling, cowardly, lanky character described in Washington Irving’s "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Instead, Colonel Crane was known for his bravery, severity, and pragmatism. Irving and Crane were both stationed at Fort Pike, Sackets Harbor, NY in 1814. Irving was serving as an aide-de-camp to New York Governor, Daniel D. Tompkins. We don’t know if the two men ever met. However, Irving recorded Crane’s unusual name in his diary, giving it to his hapless
