Born in
Bedford, New Hampshire, Atwood attended the public schools as a child. He moved to
Hamilton, New York in 1832 where he was apprenticed as a printer and later became publisher of the
Hamilton Palladium. He moved to
Freeport, Illinois in 1845 and engaged in agricultural pursuits before moving to
Madison, Wisconsin in 1847 and for forty-two years was editor and publisher of the
Wisconsin Journal. Atwood was commissioned a
major general in the Wisconsin Militia by
Governor Alexander W. Randall in 1858, was a member of the
Wisconsin State Assembly in 1861, was a
United States assessor for four years and served as mayor of
Madison, Wisconsin in 1868 and 1869. In 1870, he was elected a
Republican to the United States House of Representatives to fill a vacancy caused by the death of
Benjamin F. Hopkins. He took over representing Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district in the 41st Congress serving until 1871 and declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1870 to the
42nd Congress. Afterwards, Atwood resumed activities in the newspaper business, was a commissioner at the
Centennial Exposition representing the
State of Wisconsin from 1872 to 1876 and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in
1872 and
1876. He died in
Madison, Wisconsin, on December 11, 1889, and was interred in
Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison. ==References==