Edwin B. Houghton, a native of Windham, lived in Portland and worked as a clerk when he was mustered into Co. A of the Maine 17th Regiment as a 1st sergeant on August 18, 1862.

Houghton, who was 23 when he entered military service, was promoted to 2nd lieutenant in December 1862, 1st lieutenant of Co. H in June 1863, and captain in November 1863.

He was wounded twice. At Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863, a shell burst beneath his horse, throwing him. He also was wounded at Spotsylvania on May 12, 1864. He mustered out on June 4, 1865.

He wrote a book, The Campaigns of the Seventeenth Maine in 1866.