[1] As deacon, Atkinson served as assistant minister at Christ Church in Norfolk, Virginia.

[6] In 1852, he became rector of Grace Church in the same city,[5] a new parish organized, in part, by members of St.

[8] He was consecrated on October 17, 1853, by Bishops Thomas Church Brownell, Charles Pettit McIlvaine, George Washington Doane, James Hervey Otey, George Trevor Spencer, and John Medley.

[11] Initially opposing secession,[citation needed] after the American Civil War began, Bishop Atkinson affiliated with the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America.

[13] Two years later, he opened the Episcopal school for blacks near Raleigh that eventually became St. Augustine's College.