Judge. Politician. Elisha was born at "Boydville", the family estate, in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). He was the grandson of James Samuel Faulkner, a War of 1812 veteran, and General Elisha Boyd from the Revolutionary War. He attended private schools, the Winchester Academy, Georgetown College, and the University of Virginia. He also attended lectures on constitutional law in Paris, France while his father was U.S. Minister there. He was acting secretary of legation at Paris before he was eighteen years old. He returned to America in 1861 and volunteered with the Confederate Army and the Wise Artillery. He later moved to the Rockbridge Artillery and transferred yet again to the staff of Governor Letcher of Virginia as a lieutenant-colonel in the State service. Finally, he was appointed Captain with the provisional armyand was captured at the Battle of Piedmont in June 1864. He spent the following year confined to Johnson's Island, being released in June of 1865. His Civil War service started at First Manassas, receiving wounds in the ear from bursting shell fragments, through Cedar Creek and finally Piedmont. In 1867 he left West Virginia due to the "test oath" being required there and made his way to Kentucky where is established a law firm in 1868 with Judge R.T. Petree in Hopkinsville. He returned to Martinsburg in 1872 and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1876. In 1878 he was elected to the state Senate and offered the position of Senate President, which he declined. He later also declined the positions of Consul General at Cairo, Egypt and Minister to Persia under the administration of President Cleveland. For some time after this, he was counsel for the B&O and Cumberland Valley railroads, as well as other corporations in Berkeley and the surrounding counties. In 1892 he was appointed Judge of the 13th Judicial District of West Virginia, being re-elected three terms for a total of 21 years.