Ichabod Crane (Colonel)

Ichabod Bennet Crane
Only known photo of Crane; an 1848 daguerrotype
Born	(1787-07-18)July 18, 1787 Elizabethtown, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	October 5, 1857
Buried at	New Springville, Staten Island, New York City, New York, U.S.
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps United States Army
Years of service	1809-1812 (USMC) 1812-1857 (USA)
Rank	First lieutenant (USMC) Colonel (USA)
Unit	USS United States (1809-1811)
Commands held	Company B, 3rd Artillery (1812-1825) Btln., 4th Artillery (1825-1832) 2nd Artillery 1st Artillery
Battles/wars	War of 1812 Capture of Fort York (1813) Capture of Fort George (1813) Second Battle of Sacket's Harbor Black Hawk War Second Seminole War "Patriot War"
Relations	Stephen Crane (grandfather) William Montgomery Crane (brother) Joseph Halsey Crane (brother) Charles Henry Crane (son)
Other work	Commander, U.S. Army District of Northeast Florida (c. 1837) acting governor, Military Asylum, Washington DC (1851-1853) post commander, Governors Island

War of 1812

Ichabod Bennet Crane (July 18, 1787 – October 5, 1857) was a career military officer for 48 years and the probable namesake of the protagonist in Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Crane was born in Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), New Jersey. He was the son of Gen. William Crane. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1809 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, assigned to the USS United States, a 44-gun frigate commanded by Stephen Decatur. He served aboard the United States for two years. Crane resigned from the Marines in April 1812, to accept a commission in the United States Army as a captain in command of Company B, 3rd Artillery; the unit designation would later be Battery B, 1st Artillery (today's 2nd Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery).

During the War of 1812, Crane served on the Niagara Frontier. He was assigned command of an artillery battery at Fort Pike, which he helped construct, in Sackets Harbor, New York, and was involved with the capture on April 27, 1813, of Fort York, and at the end of May 1813 the capture of Fort George in Canada. While Crane and the Americans were capturing Fort George a joint British-Canadian force attacked the American positions at Sacket's Harbor in the Second Battle of Sacket's Harbor.

Crane continued to serve in the Northern Department after the war. In 1820 his company was transferred to Fort Wolcott in Newport, Rhode Island where Crane served as the fort's commander. While stationed at Fort Wolcott his son Charles was born.