Ellerbe Boggan Crawford Cash was educated at Mt. Zion Institute, Winnsboro, S. C. and South Carolina College. He read law under General Blakeney, at Cheraw, S. C, and practiced in partnership a short while with Alexander Mclver, Esq., the Solicitor of the Eastern Circuit, and father of Chief Justice Henry Mclver, of South Carolina. His mother owned a large landed estate, and several hundred negroes, and he soon retired from the Bar to look after her affairs. He married his cousin, Miss Allan Ellerbe, of Kershaw, S. C. in 1847. He was elected to the State Legislature from Chesterfield County. He was elected Colonel, Brigadier General, and then Major General of State militia.

At the beginning of the civil war Cash was one of the Major Generals of the State. He volunteered and was elected Colonel of the Eighth South Carolina Regiment, which he commanded at the 1st Battle of Bull Run. When the unit was reorganized he did not offer for re-election, but came home and was made Colonel in State troops. He gave away during the war over 50,000 bushels of corn and large quantities of other provisions to soldiers' families. After the war he canceled all notes, claims, and mortgages he held on estates of old soldiers'. In 1876 he took an active part in helping the State recover, contributing his time, advice, services, and money. During that year he ran unsuccesfully for govenor against Gen. Wade Hampton.

In 1881 he fought a famous duel with Colonel William M. Shannon, in which he killed Colonel Shannon. Colonel Cash was the challenged party. Following the incident, papers all over South Carolina and the nation clamored over the fatal duel. Col. Cash's reputation was shattered. Col. Cash was tried for "Murder" and "Duelling" in Darlington County, at the October term of court in 1880, and on June 21, 1881, he was acquitted. The incident resulted in legislation which outlawed duels in South Carolina and disqualified from public office anyone who had taken part in one. It was the last duel ever fought in South Carolina.