[3] Reed did not feel himself drawn to the legal profession, however, and at the urging of friends he left for Chicago to enroll at the Congregational theological seminary there.
[3] With the outbreak of the American Civil War, Reed put aside his theological studies and enlisted as an officer in the 18th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment, serving as a lieutenant.
[3] He would serve four years in the Union Army, gaining promotion to the rank of captain in 1863 and commanding 100 scouts, mustering out only at the end of the war.
[3] Reed was wounded in action in Tennessee when he rode into an ambush, shot in the leg at close range with a shotgun loaded with buckshot.
[3] Reed's reputation as a spellbinding and thoughtful divine grew and he was called by the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, Indiana, a prosperous congregation which included among its members US President Benjamin Harrison and his wife.
[5] He felt "that the West, more malleable than the East, offered a fresh opportunity to fulfill the United States' divine mission by creating a just, truly democratic society",[6] "an ideal community worthy of the kingdom of God.