Born in Greenville District, South Carolina, Ashmore attended the common schools.

Ashmore was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-sixth Congress and served from March 4, 1859, until his resignation on December 21, 1860, upon the attempted secession of South Carolina from the United States of America.

[3] He served as chairman of the Committee on Mileage (Thirty-sixth Congress).

[1] After the Civil War, he sought a pardon for having aided in rebellion.

He was buried in Black Jack Cemetery, near Sardis, in Panola County, Mississippi.