A letter to the author from Elijah's daughter, Laura Christie states: "My father was in the Revolutionary War. He was one of the boys that helped to throw the tea overboard in Boston Harbor."
Elijah Beardsley enlisted "as a private, under his father, Capt. Phineas Beardsley, in the 7th Connecticut Regt. He kept a diary from which a few extracts are taken:
‘July 25, 1777, We reached Peekskill Landing. Crossed the Hudson River to Haverstraw.' ‘Aug. 8, There was a Tory hung to an elm.'
‘Aug. 17, Stratton and Miller was wipped 100 lashes for stealing money.'
‘Saturday, Aug. 23, Paid up to July.'
‘Nov. 17, Marched through Annall and crossed the Delaware River.' They marched here and there for four days in Pa, and then recrossed the Delaware, at Dunker's Ferry, to Mt Holly, Burlington. Bristol and Billet, on their way to the "28th mile stone."
‘Dec. 20 and 21, Had nothing to eat.'
‘Dec. 22, Reached Valley Forge'
‘Dec. 24, Began our housen.'
‘Jan. 19, 1778, I sledded wood.'
‘Saturday, the 24th, ‘We sledded 12 loads of wood.'"
