Elbridge Howe was born on April 4, 1839, in Brookfield, Massachusetts, to Alphonso Howe and Polly Slayton. His father was a farmer who owned $2,250 of real estate in 1850. His mother died around 1847. Howe attended school in Brookfield before beginning work as a trader.
He enlisted in the Union army on August 28, 1862, and mustered in as a private in Company I of the 24th Massachusetts Infantry later that day. According to his enlistment records, he was 5 feet, 10 1/2 inches tall, with light hair and gray eyes. The regiment took part in the Union army's expeditions along the North Carolina and South Carolina coasts. Howe reenlisted as a veteran volunteer in January 1864, and he took part in the siege of Petersburg later that year. In August 1864, he condemned “this cursed Rebellion,” observing, “How little our Folks at the North know of this war.” He had witnessed “pleasant Homes and firesides made desolate. Buildings, Gardens Orchards and fields destroyed and wasted…it is enough to make ones hart sicken to thick of it.” He was promoted to commissary sergeant on December 6, 1864, and he mustered out in Richmond, Virginia, on January 20, 1866.
Howe returned to Brookfield after leaving the army, and he married Harriet C. Stevens there on May 3, 1866. They had at least two children: Julia, born around 1868; and Harriet E., born around 1870. Howe worked as a provision dealer after the war, and he owned $3,100 of real estate and $2,200 of personal property in 1870. He died of cancer in Brookfield on November 7, 1894.