 Edward P. Howe, originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, had been a captain with the Union Army in the Civil War and made an unsuccessful run for the Indiana State Senate as a Democrat before Louis' birth.Louis had two stepsisters, Maria and Cora, from his mother's previous marriage.Howe was sickly and fragile as a child, suffered from asthma, and was generally kept home by his parents; he would never grow to more than five feet tall.