Isaiah Inman was born around 1835 in Alabama to John and Mary Inman. His father was a farmer who owned $2,000 of real estate and $1,214 of personal property by 1860. The family moved to Texas sometime before 1850, and by 1860, Inman was working as a farmer. He enlisted in the Confederate army in June 1862 and mustered in as a private in Company E of the 30th Arkansas Infantry. He was discharged for disability on November 22, 1862, and he died sometime afterward.