[1] Elijah Isaacs was likely born near Berryville, Virginia, where in 1771 he sold the farm inherited from his father Samuel Isaacs Jr. By September 1775, he was in Surry County, North Carolina, and a member of the Surry County Committee of Safety with Benjamin Cleveland and Joseph Winston.

In August 1780, Isaacs led the Wilkes County regiment under Brigadier General Griffith Rutherford, commander of the Salisbury District Brigade of militia in western North Carolina.

Two days before the Battle of Camden (South Carolina) Isaacs’ regiment was detached from Major General Horatio Gates' army to reinforce Colonel Thomas Sumter.

Elijah Isaacs was captured when Lieutenant–Colonel Banastre Tarleton defeated Sumter’s forces at the Battle of Fishing Creek on August 18, 1780.

[8][7] Lieutenant Colonel Isaacs and General Rutherford, who was captured at the Battle of Camden, were held at St. Augustine, Florida until exchanged in July 1781.