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Now, firstly, IF it was getting dark AND the crescent moon was around, then this must have meant that the sun had just set and the moon was "trailing" the sun, as it does when crescent lit and therefore would have been in the sky BEFORE it was truly dark. Of course, this then means that the crescent moon was "waxing" to full and would NOT be rising...
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Just to twist your tail Chris (I think you're right and Martin is no astronomer btw): I spent an evening while working in Iceland up in Akureyri watching the fat
waning crescent moon above the horizon just after sunset. It continued to rise as the evening progressed
you know nothing Jon Snow 
The reason? I was at 66°N, it was August, and the waning Moon was unusually far north in Gemini and didn't actually set, but swung low over the north horizon around dusk, before rising higher into a dark late evening sky, and being up in the east-northeast towards dawn. Very weird seeing the Moon in that position though my friend who was with me didn't seem to care much at the time!! If the scene you described was up beyond the Wall, maybe it was far enough north to be actually possible...
Mind you, trying to work out astronomy in fantasy books where the seasons/winters are irregularly spaced and bear no relation to years is probably a fruitless task! Game of Thrones is great
