Ichabod Crane (colonel) Ichabod Crane (colonel) 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,
Ichabod Crane take care to feed him in the evenings, during which he is happy to listen to their tales about supernatural events in the settlement. Ichabod is said to have carried a copy of Cotton Mather's "History of New England Witchcraft", which he firmly believes. He was a conscientious man, and ever bore in mind the golden maxim, "Spare the rod and spoil the child." Ichabod Crane's scholars certainly were not spoiled. He administered justice with discrimination rather than severity; taking the burden off the backs of the weak, and laying it on those of the strong. The revenue arising from