George L. Houghton

George L. Houghton was born on August 28, 1841, in Yarmouth, Canada. The authoritative Medal of Honor record preserves his name as George L. Houghton, and because the full form of his middle initial has not been established by sufficiently strong Federal documentation, the “L.” should remain unexpanded in his final historical profile.

Houghton later came to the United States and became associated with Illinois. When the American Civil War was underway, he entered the United States Army from Brookfield, Illinois, and served as a Private in Company D of the 104th Illinois Volunteer Infantry.

The 104th Illinois Infantry was organized in 1862 and entered Federal service during a period when Union forces were fighting for control of Kentucky and Tennessee. As an infantry regiment, its soldiers were expected to march long distances, hold defensive positions, conduct skirmishing duties, protect important lines of communication, and fight directly against Confederate ground forces.

During the regiment’s early service, the 104th Illinois was involved in operations in Kentucky and Tennessee. In December 1862, the regiment became involved in the fighting at Hartsville, Tennessee, where the Union force was overwhelmed and the regiment was captured and paroled. The regiment later returned to active service after its exchange and rejoined the Army of the Cumberland.

By the spring and summer of 1863, the strategic situation in Middle Tennessee had become increasingly important. Major General William S. Rosecrans was preparing the Army of the Cumberland to force Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee out of its defensive positions.

The resulting operation became known as the Tullahoma Campaign. Although it is less famous than Gettysburg or Vicksburg, the campaign was strategically significant because Union maneuvering forced Confederate forces out of much of Middle Tennessee with comparatively limited large-scale fighting.

Railroads, roads, bridges, and river crossings were extremely important during this campaign. An army could not operate effectively without dependable routes for ammunition, food, medical supplies, reinforcements, and artillery.

One of those important points was the crossing of the Elk River in Tennessee.

On July 2, 1863, while enormous battles were simultaneously unfolding at Gettysburg and during the final days of the siege of Vicksburg, George L. Houghton became involved in the action that would eventually earn him the Medal of Honor.

Confederate troops occupied a fortified stockade associated with the Elk River crossing. Their position threatened Union use of the bridge and presented an obstacle to the continued movement of Federal troops.

Rather than waiting for a larger organized assault, a small group of Union soldiers volunteered to attack the Confederate position.

George L. Houghton was one of those volunteers.

At the time he was serving as a Private in Company D, 104th Illinois Infantry. His official Medal of Honor citation later summarized his action in concise language: he voluntarily joined a small party that, under heavy enemy fire, captured the stockade and saved the bridge.

The short citation conceals the considerable danger involved.

A stockade was a defensive position intended to protect an important location and give its defenders an advantage over troops approaching across exposed ground. Soldiers attacking such a position had to advance while the defenders could fire from relative protection.

The bridge itself added further urgency to the situation. A bridge could be damaged or destroyed to delay an advancing army, forcing engineers and troops to undertake time-consuming repairs or find another crossing.

For the Union advance during the Tullahoma Campaign, preserving a usable crossing over the Elk River had immediate operational importance.

Houghton and the other members of the volunteer party therefore faced two related objectives: overcome the Confederate defenders and prevent the bridge from being lost.

They advanced under heavy fire against the fortified position.

The attack succeeded.

The small Union party captured the stockade and preserved the bridge, allowing the Union movement to continue.

Houghton survived the assault and continued his Civil War service with the 104th Illinois Infantry.

Following the Middle Tennessee operations, the regiment remained associated with the Army of the Cumberland and participated in later campaigning as Union forces advanced deeper into Confederate territory.

The 104th Illinois subsequently served during operations connected with the Chickamauga and Chattanooga campaigns and remained in Federal service through the later years of the war.

The regiment eventually served during the Atlanta Campaign and subsequent Union operations, continuing until the closing stages of the conflict.

For Houghton, however, the defining moment of his military career remained the July 2, 1863 attack at Elk River.

The extraordinary nature of the action was not immediately followed by the Medal of Honor.

Like many Civil War soldiers who eventually received the decoration, Houghton waited decades before his wartime conduct was formally recognized.

The Medal of Honor itself had been established during the Civil War. Congress authorized the Army Medal of Honor in 1862, creating a national military decoration at a time when the United States did not yet possess the extensive system of individual valor awards that developed during the twentieth century.

For Civil War soldiers, the Medal of Honor therefore served as the principal Federal decoration available for exceptional gallantry and distinguished military conduct.

Houghton’s Medal of Honor recognition came in 1900, nearly thirty-seven years after the action at Elk River.

There is a minor documentary distinction concerning the exact recognition date. The Congressional Medal of Honor Society records a presentation date of March 17, 1900, while the official U.S. Army Medal of Honor record gives March 27, 1900 as the date of issue.

These dates should not be treated as contradictory descriptions of the battlefield action itself. Both refer to the 1900 award process, while the heroic action unquestionably occurred on July 2, 1863.

For the database, the important point is that the Medal of Honor was awarded during the 1896–1903 Army Medal of Honor period.

The Army Medal of Honor had undergone an important ribbon change in 1896. A later and more extensive redesign of the medal was introduced in 1904.

Because Houghton received his decoration in 1900, the historically appropriate database classification is Medal of Honor 1896–1903 Army — 1900.

The earlier Medal of Honor 1862–1895 Army version would not correctly represent the award period in which Houghton actually received his decoration.

No additional star, clasp, bar, oak leaf cluster, or other device has been verified for Houghton’s Medal of Honor.

His verified decoration should therefore be displayed as a single Medal of Honor 1896–1903 Army — 1900 — with no device or clasp.

Another award requiring separate consideration is the Army Civil War Campaign Medal.

Houghton clearly served during the American Civil War and survived for many years after the conflict. He was still alive when the Army Civil War Campaign Medal was established in 1907.

That fact, however, proves only potential eligibility. It does not prove that the medal was actually issued to him.

The Civil War Campaign Medal was created decades after the fighting ended, and the project requires recipient-specific evidence before adding such a medal to an individual veteran’s ribbon rack.

No sufficiently strong individual issuance record has been verified showing that George L. Houghton personally received the Army Civil War Campaign Medal.

For that reason, the Army Civil War Campaign Medal remains HOLD / DO NOT ADD.

It should not appear in his final verified medal rack unless new recipient-specific evidence is discovered.

Houghton’s verified military rank also remains straightforward. He served as a Private during the Elk River action, and no sufficiently strong authoritative evidence has been established showing that he later reached a higher military rank.

Private should therefore remain both his action rank and his highest verified rank in the final database profile.

His combat classification is Infantry because his documented military service was with Company D of the 104th Illinois Infantry. His Medal of Honor action was also fundamentally an infantry ground-combat operation: a small party advancing under enemy fire against a fortified position.

After the Civil War, Houghton lived for more than half a century.

His later life took him westward, and records eventually place him in the Pacific Northwest.

By the early twentieth century he was living in Washington State, where he spent the final period of his life.

George L. Houghton died on February 25, 1917, at Orting, Washington, at the age of seventy-five.

He was buried in the Soldiers’ Home Cemetery at Orting, Washington, where his grave preserves the memory of his Civil War service and Medal of Honor status.

Houghton’s life therefore spanned an extraordinary period of American history. Born in Canada in 1841, he came to serve the United States during the Civil War, joined an Illinois infantry regiment, experienced the campaigns of the Western Theater, and volunteered for a dangerous attack at Elk River.

His Medal of Honor action was not the work of a senior officer commanding hundreds of men. He was a Private who voluntarily stepped forward when a small group was needed for a hazardous mission.

Under heavy enemy fire, Houghton and the other volunteers attacked and captured the stockade and preserved the bridge.

The military importance of the action lay in keeping the crossing available to advancing Union troops during the Tullahoma Campaign.

The personal significance lay in Houghton’s willingness to expose himself voluntarily to intense danger in order to accomplish the mission.

Nearly thirty-seven years later, the United States formally recognized that conduct with the Medal of Honor.

His final verified award record therefore contains one decoration: Medal of Honor 1896–1903 Army — 1900 — with no additional device or clasp.

The Army Civil War Campaign Medal remains excluded from the verified rack unless recipient-specific issuance evidence is found.

George L. Houghton is remembered as a Private of Company D, 104th Illinois Infantry, a Union soldier of the American Civil War, a volunteer in the dangerous Elk River assault of July 2, 1863, and a Medal of Honor recipient whose courage helped capture a fortified Confederate position and save an important bridge for the advancing Army of the Cumberland.