He served one year in the Wisconsin State Senate (1861), representing Winnebago County, and was field surgeon and later a medical examiner for the Union Army in the American Civil War.
Crane earned his medical doctorate from Western Reserve College in 1848 and shortly thereafter moved to the new state of Wisconsin, establishing a practice at Green Bay.
[3] Shortly after the regiment's arrival, Dr. Crane was assigned to work as surgeon-in-charge at the field hospital established at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland.
[4] In May 1863, he resigned from his field duties and was appointed examining surgeon for the Union Army enrollment board in Wisconsin's Green Bay district.
Crane's daughter Frederika was a locally famous artist and helped found the Neville Public Museum near Green Bay.