Elijah L. Bell was a 27-year-old farmer, born in Tennessee, living in Ouachita County, when he enlisted in Co. K, 6th Arkansas Infantry, at Little Rock, Arkansas, on May 31, 1861. He was mustered into Confederate service with his company at Pocahontas, Arkansas, on July 26, 1861, for twelve months; absent on detached duty, June 30, 1862, detailed as a teamster; captured at Tyner’s Station, Tennessee, November 25, 1863; received at Rock Island Barracks, Illinois, December 11, 1863; forwarded to City Point, Virginia, for exchange, March 6, 1865; admitted to Howard’s Grove Hospital, Richmond, Virginia, March 13, 1865, due to bronchitis; transferred to Wayside and Receiving Hospital No. 9, Richmond, Virginia, March 16, 1865; released on furlough for thirty days, March 18, 1865.

His widow, Eliza Jane Bell, applied for a Confederate pension from Pulaski County, Arkansas, in 1916, stating that her husband had died in 1900 (Pension File No. 23323, approved on August 10, 1916).