On February 3, E. Mann was appointed as superintendent of a new mission to help families excluded from all evangelical influences of the New Albany churches, and so poor children in New Albany were provided with clothing and shoes as the women of the church began sewing garments.
After the Battle of Shiloh (April 6-7, 1862), New Albany became a hospital center for wounded and sick soldiers. Rev. Atterbury met the steamboats at the wharf and ministered to these men. At its peek, there were upwards of 2,000 wounded soldiers staying at the temporary hospitals in town.
In July, racial tension turns into a three day riot in New Albany where Whites roamed the streets searching for African Americans and eventually several people were killed.
On November 27, Rev. John Guest Atterbury delivered both a powerful sermon publicly and later published it. It can be summarized near the end: “Right does not depend on color. God is no respector of persons or races. He has made all of one blood, and he seeks the good of all and we must seek the good of all within our province.”