Robert Beach enlisted with the 7th NJ Volunteers, Company C on August 28, 1861 as a Private. He was promoted to Full Corporal on July 1, 1862, served for the duration of the war and was mustered out October 7, 1864 in Trenton, NJ.

After the war, he married Anna Stanford and had two children, Charles and May.

Beach passed away at the age of 84 on July 2, 1924 and is buried in Hanover Cemetery, in East Hanover, New Jersey.