US Congressman. He was born one of five children (Richard Inge, Francis Decatur Inge, John Henry Inge, and William Murphy Inge) to Mexican Army Veteran Major Francis Inge and his wife, Rebecca Coke Williams Inge in Warren County, North Carolina. He later moved to Greene County, Alabama, and was educated in the local public common schools. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar and commenced to practicing in Livingston, Alabama. On November 26, 1838, he married Louise E. Hill in Alabama and the couple would have two children together (Samuel Williams Inge was born in 1845 and Richard J. Inge was born in 1848). He then entered politics and served as a Member of the Alabama State House of Representatives from 1844 to 1845. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected. A Member of the Democratic Party, he then served Alabama's 4th District (Thirtieth Congress and Thirty-First Congress) in the United States House of Representatives from 1847 to 1851. While serving in the United States Congress he was Chairman of the United States Committee on the District of Columbia representing the Thirty-First Congress. After his term in the United States Congress expired on March 3, 1851, he was succeeded in office by United States Representative William Russell Smith. In 1853, he was involved in a duel with United States Representative from North Carolina Edward W. Stanly at Bladensburg near Washington, D.C., but neither of the two men was seriously hurt. He then resumed his practice of law was personally appointed by then-President Franklin Pierce to the post of United States Attorney for the Northern District of Columbia and served from 1853 to 1856. While in the office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Columbia, he led the State of California Delegation to the 1856 National Democratic Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was able to cast out all of the State of California's votes for James Buchanan to be President and for the Democratic Party to endorse the establishment of a safe and speedy communication throughout the State of California between the East Coast and the West Coast. He then retired from politics and resumed his practice of law for several years until his death. He passed away following a short illness on June 10, 1868, at the age of 51, in San Francisco, California. Following his death, he was buried at the Mount Calvary Cemetery in San Francisco, California, but when that cemetery closed he was removed to the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, California. His wife Louisa passed away on May 20, 1872, at the age of about 50, in San Francisco, California, and she was buried in the same cemetery as her husband. He was the nephew of United States Representative William Marshall Inge who served in the United States Congress from Tennessee from 1833 to 1835.