Elijah Robinson was born around 1840. By the early 1860s, he was living in Warren County, North Carolina. He enlisted in the Confederate army on April 26, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company C of the 46th North Carolina Infantry. Confederate officials transferred him to Company C of the 15th North Carolina Infantry on December 1, 1862. He died in the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862.