By the time William was in his late twenties, he went into business for himself as a master cotton gin builder/repairer; and by 1860 William owned, not only his gin shop, but a large cotton plantation and as many as 60 slaves. William Ellison had managed to climb from abject poverty to being one of the top 10% wealthiest people in all of South Carolina, was in the top 5% of land ownership, and was the third largest slave owner.

When war broke out in 1861, William was one of the staunchest supporters of the Confederacy. His grandson joined a Confederate Artillery Unit, and William turned his plantation over from being a cotton cash crop to farming foodstuff for the Confederacy.

Ellison died in December of 1861 at the age of 71, and per his wishes, his family actively supported the Confederacy throughout the war. Aside from producing foodstuff for the Confederate Army, they contributed vast amounts of money, paid $5000 in taxes, and invested a good portion of their fortune into Confederate Bonds.

After the war, the Ellison family fortune dried up and the family returned to the impoverishment the Ellison patriarch knew in his youth.

The story, in-and-of itself is not all that remarkable… save for one fact. William "April" Ellison was a black man, born in slavery. He was born "April" Ellison; acquired his freedom at the age of 26; and took the first name of his former master "William".

Something the modern history books seem to leave out is the following facts (as of 1860):

1. Roughly 6% of the total population in the South owned slaves (some census reports show 4% to 5%).
2. Roughly 1.6% of the free black population in the South owned slaves.
3. Of the 4.5 million blacks living in the entire US, roughly 4 million lived in the South. 261,988 of these Blacks were free (6.5%).
4. 10,689 free blacks lived in New Orleans, and of those, over 3,000 owned slaves (that's 28% of the black population of New Orleans).
5. Most slave owners owned from 1 to 5 slaves.
6. Most southern slave owners worked the field beside their slaves.
7. Only the top 1% of slave owners had 50+ slaves. These are called "Slave Magnets".
8. There were 6 black "Slave Magnets" in New Orleans alone… one owned at least 152 Slaves.
9. The average wealth of a southern white man was $3,978 dollars (this would be total worth). The average wealth of free blacks was $500.
10. In South Carolina 125 blacks owned slaves, with 6 owning 10 or more.
11.
In North Carolina 69 blacks owned slaves.
12. Slavery was still practiced in the North until the ratification of the 13th amendment to the Constitution.
13. There were over 200 slaves in the North.

A few more interesting facts:

1. Ulysses S. Grant, Commanding General of the Union army owned slaves until the 13th amendment forced him to free them.
2. Robert E. Lee, Commanding General of the Confederate army did not own slaves.
3. Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy had a black foster son that he raised as his own until Union soldiers seized the child… the Davis family tried desperately to see him returned but the Union refused to allow it. He died never knowing the fate of his foster son.

The point of all of this is simple… Slavery was not a white problem; it was not a southern problem; it was an AMERICAN problem.