The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Dutch settlers colonized present-day New York (then called New Netherland) in 1624, after Dutch explorer Henry Hudson discovered that the area, with its navigable rivers and natural resources, could become a lucrative colony for trade in goods and slaves. The colonists fought wars with the Manhattan Indians, from whom they infamously purchased Manhattan Island, and with the English, who sought control of the region, from 1626 to 1664. New York came under British control in 1664 but retained a significant Dutch population, especially in more remote regions like Sleepy Hollow.

Irving alludes to the Dutch colonization and culture of New York frequently. When describing Sleepy Hollow’s dreamlike atmosphere, he writes that these characteristics stem from “the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers” (3). He refers to Sleepy Hollow as one of the “little retired Dutch valleys […] in the great State of New York, [where] population, manners, and customs remain fixed” (8). He characterizes one of Ichabod’s students as a “Dutch urchin” (12), the women who tell ghost stories as “old Dutch wives” (20), and Van Tassel as a “Dutch farmer” (24). The narrator makes many more references to the Dutch-ness of Sleepy Hollow. In fact, everyone and everything in Sleepy Hollow are Dutch except for Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman.

Though the Headless Horseman myth is endemic to the Dutch community, the Horseman himself was a Hessian general who was decapitated by a cannonball during the Revolutionary War. This is significant because Dutch colonists had lived in the area for over a hundred years before the Revolutionary War took place. The narrator refers to the Headless Horseman as the “Galloping Hessian” throughout the story; Hessian is a term used to describe German soldiers who fought for the British during the American Revolutionary War. By calling the Headless Horseman the Galloping Hessian, Irving emphasizes the Horseman’s German—i.e., non-Dutch—heritage and that he fought for the enemy.

The other notable non-Dutch character in Sleepy Hollow is Ichabod Crane. Ichabod Crane is a “native of Connecticut,” which the English colonized in 1637 (9). Irving states that the witchcraft of which Ichabod is so fond “prevailed in the earlier times of Connecticut” (21). Though Irving does not specify Ichabod’s ethnic background, these details suggest that Ichabod, who is from New England, is of English heritage. Ichabod’s presumptive Englishness aligns him with the Headless Horseman, making them both outsiders.

The heavy emphasis on ethnicity and origin suggests that Dutch roots—or lack thereof—play an important role in the plot’s outcome and in Ichabod Crane’s fate.