[3] He was a soldier in the American Civil War from New Hampshire, prior to being a state legislator for Massachusetts during the late 19th century.

[10] Atherton was sent to the front lines, and his regiment made significant advances, but he was severely wounded in the lung and captured by Confederate forces as his regiment retreated on August 16, 1864, during the Second Battle of Deep Bottom, in Virginia.

As the wounded Federal soldiers were attended to by the Confederate forces, Atherton made a Masonic sign, and a nearby surgeon came to his aid and took him into his immediate care.

He mustered out on July 20, 1865, and shortly after relocated to Warwick, Massachusetts,[14][15] just over the state line from his birthplace of Richmond, New Hampshire.

[19] His son Arlon E. Atherton, a former representative of the Boston Nail Company died a decade later.

[21] Atherton was a New England descendant of Puritan heritage,[22] whose ancestors had settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony.