Captain Duncan Nathaniel Ingraham was born at Charleston, South Carolina on 6 December 1802. He was appointed midshipman 18 June 1812 at the age of 10 and, after distinguished service, was commissioned captain 14 September 1855.

While in command of the sloop-of-war St. Louis in the Mediterranean in July 1853, he interfered at Smyrna with the detention by the Austrian consul of Martin Koszta, a Hungarian who had declared in New York his intention of becoming an America citizen and who had been seized and confined in the Austrian ship Hussar. For his conduct in this matter he was voted thanks and a medal by Congress.

Captain Ingraham served as Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrographer of the Navy from 1856 until 1860. He resigned from the Navy 4 February 1861 to enter the Confederate States Navy with the rank of captain. He was commandant of the Charleston station 1862 to 1865. He died at Charleston 16 October 1891.