Father: Archibald Atkinson, Sr. (1792-1872)
Mother: Elizabeth Ann Chilton(1808-1872)
1850 - Lived with parents, Smithfield, Isle of Wight Co., VA
1851-1852 - Attended University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (from: Isle of Wight Co., VA)
1853-1854 - Attended, University of Pennsylvania Medical Department, Philadelphia, PA
1854 - M.D. degree, University of Pennsylvania Medical Department, Philadelphia, PA (from: VA; thesis: "Respiration")
1854-1856 - Post graduate medical studies in Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, Ireland & University of Paris, Paris, France
1856 - Practiced medicine, Baltimore, MD
11/02/1858 - Married, Mary Elizabeth Thomas (she was born in VA, 11/30/1839 & died 01/26/1914)
04/17/1860 (or 04/00/1859) - Daughter, Mary Chilton Atkinson, born in Baltimore, MD
04/00/1861 - Elected "company surgeon" of a local company of artillery which was raised around Smithfield, VA
~05/00/1861 - Received a telegraph from John Letcher, Governor of Virginia, ordering him to go to Richmond where Gov. Letcher "handed me my commission as assistant surgeon"
06/21/1861 - Appointed, Asst. Surgeon, Provisional Army of the Confederate States
06/21/1861 - Ordered to report to Gen. H. A. Wise
08/01/1861 - Asst. Surgeon, Lewisburg, VA
08/13/1861 - Asst. Surgeon of Cavalry, Gen. H. A. Wise's Brigade
~10/00/1861 - Detailed as Asst. Surgeon to the 3rd Regiment, Wise Legion, at the request of Col. W. E. Starke, 3rd Regiment, Wise Legion [later, this regiment became the 60th VA Infantry]. This detail was to temporarily replace Dr. Henry Reginald Noel.
11/00/1861 - Asst. Surgeon
12/18/1861 - Received an order from Col. James Lucius Davis to rejoin his former cavalry regiment [?Cavalry of Gen. H. A. Wise's Brigade] in Russell Co., VA
02/12/1862 - Asst. Surgeon, Portsmouth, VA
02/21/1862 - Surgeon, 10th VA Cavalry & Acting Brigade Surgeon, Gen. W. H. F. Lee's Cavalry Brigade
02/21/1862 - Brig. Gen. Henry A. Wise, Great Bridge, Norfolk Co., VA, wrote to "Surgeon General [David Camden] De Leon, the Medical Director of the Department at Norfolk[,] Sir[,] Surgeon Atkinson reports to me here this morning that he is ready for duty where he belongs, in my Legion. He had orders from you, he reports, to await orders in Norfolk; but as he is attached to my Cavalry regiment and they are ordered here, I respectfully represent that his services are needed here and request that he [be] allowed to report himself to me for duty."
02/23/1862 - As Asst. Surgeon, ordered to report to Gen. H. A. Wise
05/18/1862 - Asst. Surgeon, 10th VA Cavalry, Jackson, Northampton Co., NC
06/27/1862 - Examined Sgt. William W. Pennypacker, 11th MS Infantry who was mortally wounded by a ball that passed through the spine between the shoulders leaving the patient paralyzed. He left Sgt. Pennypacker in the care of a Dr. Ambler with the contents of his haversack which contained a pocket case of surgical instruments, bandages, a vial of chloroform, and some morphine.
~08/01/1862 - Ordered from near Martinsburg, VA, to Richmond, VA, for examination by the Confederate Army Board of Medical Examination for the position of Surgeon. The board consisted of Dr. James Dunn, president, Dr. Henry Campbell, Dr. St. George Tucker Peachy, and Dr. Arthur Edward Peticolas. "I was examined on scarlet fever instead
of gun shot wounds."
08/16/1862 - “Surgeon A. Atkinson will report to the colonel of the Tenth Virginia Cavalry for duty with his regiment.” [S.O. 191/10]
09/26/1862 - Appointed Surgeon, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, to rank from 08/01/1862
09/26/1862 - Ordered to report to the Surgeon General [S. P. Moore, Richmond, VA]
10/07/1862 - Confirmed as Surgeon from VA by the Confederate States Senate
11/07/1862 - Asst. Surgeon, 10th VA Cavalry
07/00/1863 - Accompanied a train of 100 ambulances laden with wounded men on a retreat from Gettysburg, PA, to Williamsport, MD
07/00/1863 - Assisted in caring for the wounded and sick at Williamsport, MD, by his brother Hospital Steward Robert Chilton Atkinson, by Hospital Steward William Chilton Day, and by Dr. James William Greene of Stony Creek, Sussex Co., VA
10/08/1863 - Relieved from duty with the 10th VA Cavalry and ordered to report to the Medical Director, 2nd Corps [Army of Northern Virginia] for assignment to duty
10/21/1863 - Joined Gen. J. A. Early's Brigade and "was assigned by Dr. Hunter McGuire to Dr. [Samuel Brown] Morrison whom I had known at the University of Va. I had gotten transferred from [the] 10th va. cavalry to Earley sic- Early's] Brigade first that I might be with Capt. J. H. Bougham of the 15th Va. infantry, and secondly because I found that a surgeon in infantry could care for his sick and wounded so much better in the infantry, where the command is usually in camp long enough for the sick to rally. Whilst in Cavalry you are always on the move …."
01/01/1864 - Surgeon, 31st VA Infantry . "Whilst I had transferred from the 10th Va. Cavarly to Gen. Early's old brigade I had not been assigned any special regt. in the brigade, so that soon after I had reported, Col. [John Stringer] Hoffman then in command of the brigade and Colonel of the 31st Va., asked me to give especial attention to his regt. which had no surgeon and Dr. [Smith]Buttermore was the assistant surgeon and the men had very little confidence in his skill.
04/07/1864 - Medical Officer, 31st VA Infantry, Summerville Ford, VA
05/05/1864 - Performed a primary amputation of the left thigh in the lower third of Pvt. M. Y. Hall, Co. A, 31st VA Infantry. Pvt. Hall was retired, 12/14/1864.
08/07/1864 - Performed a secondary intermediary amputation of the leg [left or right unspecified] of Pvt. L. D. Humphries, Co. H, 31st VA Infantry. Patient recovered.
09/15/1864 - Surgeon, 31st VA Infantry, Army of Northern Virginia
09/19/1864 - Captured near Winchester, VA [while caring for wounded Confederate soldiers]
09/19/1864 - "Lieutenant Wilson B. Newman, Co. A, 13th Virginia Regiment, aged 24 years, was wounded at the battle of Winchester, Virginia, September 19th, 1864, by a piece of shell , which fractured the left parietal bone to one- half its extent. The scalp was extensively lacerated. The patient was at once admitted to the depot field hospital at Winchester, where the trephine was applied by Surgeon A. Atkinson, P.A.C.S. The depressed bone was then elevated and all loose fragments were removed. Cold water dressings were applied to the head and generous died ordered. The operation failed to relieve the patient who had been unconscious since the reception of the injury, and death ensued on September 27th, 1864, from compression of the brain. [The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War (reprinted 1991) Broadfoot Pub. Co., Wilmington, NC, v. 8, p. 274.]
09/19/1864 - "Private W.J. Hindles, Co. H. 6th North Carolina Regiment, aged 30 years, received a gunshot wound at Winchester, Virginia, September 19th, 1864, the ball entering at the left shoulder, near the spine, and emerging at the symphysis of the lower jaw. He was admitted on the same day to the depotfield hospital. On October 1st. he had become anaemic from repeated haemorrhage. The entire neck in front was distended from the diffused clot. Surgeon A. Atkinson, U.S.V. [sic - P.A.C.S.], performed tracheotomy on occurrence of asphyxia from pressure of clot on larynx while attempting its removal. He gradually sank from loss of blood and suffocation, impending from diffused clot pressing on trachea, and died on the same day from asphyxia and haemorrhage. At the autopsy, a diffused clot was found throughout the front and side of the neck, pressing upon the trachea and following in the track of the wound. The transverse processes of the third and fourth cervical vertebrae were found fractured, and the vertebral artery severed." [The Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War (1991) Broadfoot Pub. Co., Wilmington, NC, v. 8,
p. 417.]
09/19/1864 - Performed a circular amputation of the right lower arm of Lt. J. J. Jones, Co. D, 13th VA Infantry.
09/19/1864 - Performed an oval flap amputation of the right thigh of Pvt. A. McCure, Co. F, 3rd AL Infantry. Patient died of pneumonia, 10/31/1864.
09/19/1864 - Excised 2 inches of the upper third of the left tibia of Pvt. G. C. Boger, Co. H, 2nd NC Infantry. Patient was sent to prison [?U.S. Army],
09/23/1864 - Performed a circular amputation of the right upper arm of Pvt. W. H. Eskbridge, 12th NC Infantry. Patient was transferred to Fort McHenry,MD, [U.S. Army prison] on 12/09/1864.
11/29/1864 - Surgeon, 31st VA Infantry, "[with] wounded within enemy lines"
01/04/1865 - Admitted as a Prisoner of War to West's Buildings Hospital, Baltimore, MD, from Winchester, VA - "diagnosis - nil"
01/06/1865 - As a Prisoner of War, received at Fort Monroe, VA, "for transfer South" and "forwarded to point of exchange per Flag of Truce steam"
01/11/1865 - As Surgeon, 31st VA Infantry, returned from a Northern prison [captured Sept. 19th, 1864]
01/11/1865 - As Surgeon, 31st VA Infantry, granted 30 days leave of absence [S.O. 8/28]
01/28/1865 - Surgeon, 31st VA Infantry, near Burgess Mill, Dinwiddie Co., VA
03/14/1865 - Surgeon, 31st VA Infantry at Gen. J. A. Early's Division Hospital
03/20/1865 - Surgeon, 31st VA Infantry at Gen. J. A. Early's Division Hospital
03/27/1865 - Senior Surgeon, Gen. James A. Walker's Brigade (formerly Gen. John Pegram's Brigade), Gen. J. A. Early's Division Hospital
04/09/1865 - Paroled as Senior Surgeon, Gen. James A. Walker's Brigade, Appomattox, VA. "The archives of the brigade and divisions were burned. It was a foolish thing to do, as they told of as good medical and surgical service as could have been gathered from the archives of the northern army and would have perpetuated the work of the Confederate Medical and Surgical Departments."
09/00/1865 - Practiced medicine and lived with his family, Smithfield, Isle of Wight, VA
08/16/1870 - Practiced medicine, Smithfield, Isle of Wight Co., VA (lived with wife, Mary E., and two children - indexed in the 1870 U.S. Census as A. Atkinson)
1873 - Returned to Baltimore
1874 - Practiced medicine, 59 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD
1874 - Professor, Materia Medica and Therapeutics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, MD
1876 (summer) - Resident Physician, Jordan Alum Springs, Rockbridge Co., VA
09/00/1876 - Returned to Baltimore, MD
- Resident Physician with Dr. Moreman, White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier Co., WV
1886 - Practiced medicine, 119 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD
1890,1893, 1896 - Practiced medicine, 2101 Maryland Ave., Baltimore, MD
1896 - ?Published, Diseases of the Stomach and Bowels
1896 - Member, Baltimore Microscopic Society
1896 - Member, Victoria Institute, London, England
06/02/1900 - Practiced medicine, 2101 Maryland Ave., Baltimore, MD (living with wife, Mary E.; son, Lewis W.; and daughter, Mary - indexed in the 1900 U.S. Census as "Caleb Altemon")
- Professor, Materia Medica and Therapeutics, Baltimore Medical College, Baltimore, MD
10/29/1903 (or 10/23/1903) - Died at his home of Bright's disease, Baltimore, MD (buried: Cedar Grove Cemetery, Portsmouth, VA)

Bob Krick provided input to this biography.

Note: Dr. Archibald Archer, Jr., left a memoir which is in the archives of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. This provided additional input to this biography.

This biographical sketch is from:
Hambrecht, F.T. & Koste, J.L., Biographical
register of physicians who served the
Confederacy in a medical capacity.
03/11/2015. Updated 06/24/2017.
Unpublished database.

The following was added by Bev, the creator of this memorial:

Archibald Atkinson, Jr

Enlisted as a Private (date unknown).
"A" Co. VA 19th Battn Heavy Artillery
VA 10th Cavalry

Atkinson, Archibald, Jr., M.D., Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, was born February 23, 1832, near Smithfield, on the James River, Isle of Wight County, Virginia. In 1862 Dr. Atkinson was selected as the Surgeon of the Tenth Regiment, Virginia Cavalry, belonging to General J.E.B. Stuart's command, and in autumn of 1863 was assigned to the Thirty-first Virginia Regiment of Infantry. Subsequently he was appointed Brigade-Surgeon in General John Pegram's Brigade, Early's Division, Second Army Corps, of the Army of Northern Virginia.
died 10/29/1903 in Baltimore, MD

Source: http://spec.lib.vt.edu/civwar/encyccw.htm#Atkinson