Ichabod Shepherd

Name: Ichabod Steward Shepherd

Apparent Age: Late 30s

Rank: Lieutenant, Warner's Regiment, American Revolution

Date of Embrace: July 07, 1777

Physical description:

Ichabod has a pair of striking blue eyes and brown hair tied back with a red ribbon. If he wasn't moving, one could easily mistake him as a statue of a Founding Father. Ichabod dresses for his comfort, and that means like he did in life. He is always seen in a pair of knee length black boots, brown breeches, a white cotton shirt, black waistcoat, black cravat, and long, black traveling cloak (unless it is a special occasion, in which he wears an ornate red frock coat). In the warmer months, he is seen with a fan that he fans himself with (as an affectation of his mortal years) and always with an ornate cane with a crow handle. In his waistcoat is a black pocketwatch that he uses to keep time, particularly if he is awaiting a meeting to begin or expecting someone.

Childer:Jesse Allen

Detailed Status:

Acknowledged (1777, Castleton, Vermont)

Just (1989, Columbus, Ohio)

Respected (2024, Carthage)

Insightful (2024, Columbus, Ohio)

Biography:

Ichabod was born on May 19, 1740, to Nathaniel and Martha Shepherd. He was the oldest of two children, the youngest being his sister, Charlotte. He grew up with a relatively happy childhood, playing in the fields of Castleton, Vermont with his beloved sister. His father was a Congregationalist preacher, and Sundays were spent in devotion to God, listening to his father's sermons and partaking in the church potlucks that followed the service.

Ichabod was first called to service in May of 1754, just after his fourteenth birthday. He served, as he recalls in these nights, proudly for king and country in the Seven Years War, what is now known as the French and Indian War, maintaining his rank of Private for the duration of the war as a part of the 60th Royal American Regiment.

It was in these early nights that Ichabod first came across his friend and future sire, the Mohawk Okwaho. He never could quite place why he only saw him at night around the fire as he was keeping watch, but Okwaho came to be a comfort to him as a still young, formidable man facing uncertainty and death for the first time.

Ichabod returned home after the war's conclusion in 1763, returning to a grateful family who all gave thanks to God that their son had returned home. But, conflict would not stay away for long. As the drums of revolution began to beat louder and louder, Ichabod joined the Green Mountain Boys, lead by Ethan Allen and Seth Warner, in 1770. His beloved sister, Charlotte, gave him her red ribbon to protect him against the British muskets, a memento that he wears in his hair to this day. In 1775, the Green Mountain Boys officially joined the Continental Army as Warner's Regiment, lead by Colonel Seth Warner. Along with famous turncoat Major General Benedict Arnold, the regiment overtook Fort Ticonderoga from General John Burgoyne. They, and then-Lieutenant Shepherd, held the fort until 1777.

Warner's Regiment retreated to Hubbardton and remained there to pick up stragglers and supplies on July 5 in 1777. It was on July 7, 1777 that the British attacked the regiment in the early hours of the morning at the Battle of Hubbardton. Ichabod's sister was partially correct- the ribbon she gave him did spare him from the British muskets, but it did not spare him from the British cannons. He took a cannonball to the chest and fell on the field. As he lay dying, he saw his friend Okwaho, who dragged him to the trees and offered him a choice- to be relegated to the dusty tomes of history or to continue his life. That night, Ichabod was Embraced, and began his wanderings in the night.

(WIP)