He entered the service as first-lieutenant in Captain Creighton's company; and on his promotion, was made captain. He early devoted himself to the instruction of his company; and it can be said that it lost nothing of the efficiency it acquired under the leadership of Creighton.
After the regiment entered the field, his services were invaluable. I doubt if the entire army contains an officer who has performed more service, in the same length of time, than Crane. If a bridge was to be constructed, or a road repaired, he was sent for to superintend it. If the commissary department became reduced, he was the one to procure supplies. No undertaking was too arduous for his iron-will to brave. There was no fear of starvation while the sturdy Crane was present. All relied on him with the utmost confidence, and no one was ever disappointed in him.
At the affair of Cross Lanes, where he first came under fire, he was more than a hero; he seemed possessed of attributes of a higher nature. He moved amid that sheet of flame, as if possessed of a soul in communion with a higher power. He inspired his men with true courage. They stood like a wall, and fell back only when ordered by their leader, then dashed through the strong line of the enemy with a bravery which was truly sublime. The enemy, although five to one, hesitated, swayed backward, and finally fled, so severely punished, that for the time they did not pursue. In that long march, over the mountains to Gauley Bridge, he was still the proud leader.
After his arrival at the above place, he was sent out to the front, up New River, where he rendered valuable service.
He was in every march and skirmish in both Western and Eastern Virginia, until, we find the regiment at the battle of Winchester. In this engagement he showed the same indomitable and true courage. He held his men to the work of carnage so fearfully, that the enemy's slain almost equalled his command.
We now find him in every battle in which his regiment was engaged in the East. Port Republic, Cedar Mountain (where he was slightly wounded), Antietam, Dumfries, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. In all of these he led his command, and the dead of the enemy left on the field before it attest how well he led it.
At the battle of Antietam, he commanded the regiment, and during the latter part of the engagement, a brigade.
Before the regiment left for the West, he was made lieutenant-colonel; a position which his ability and long, as well as faithful, service of his country rendered him eminently qualified to fill.
Arriving in the West, he commanded the regiment in the battles of Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge, where he added new laurels to his already imperishable name. At fatal Ringgold, he again commanded the regiment. He led it up the steep ascent, where the whistling of bullets made the air musical; and where men dropped so quietly that they were scarcely missed, except in the thinned ranks of the command. The regiment had not recovered from the shock produced by the announcement of the death of Creighton, when the noble Crane, on whom all hearts were centred in the fearful peril of that hour, fell at the feet of his devoted comrades, pierced through the forehead by a rifle bullet. He spoke not a word—his strong heart ceased to beat; and his soul took its flight from its blood-red tenement, and from the confusion of battle, to the land of patriot spirits. He fell so far in the advance, that his men were driven back before possessing themselves of his body,—but soon after it was recovered.
The sketches of Creighton and Crane now lie in the same path.