Hugh founded clothing manufacturer Inman, Smith and Company with his son, Edward, in 1896.

Hugh and son, Edward, provided financial support and were vice-presidents of Atlanta Woolen Mills, which had 450 employees in 1902 and did yearly business amounting to $500,000.

[1]: 33 He owned the Kimball House Hotel in downtown Atlanta which he gave as a wedding gift to daughter Annie and son-in-law John W.

[1]: 64–65  His son, Edward Hamilton Inman, owned the Swan House (Atlanta).

In August 1910, he went to a sanitarium in New York City suffering from neurasthenia and died there three months later of pneumonia.