<P> D.L. Moody "could not conscientiously enlist" in the Union Army during the Civil War, later describing himself as "a Quaker" in this respect . After the Civil War started, he became involved with the United States Christian Commission of the YMCA, and paid nine visits to the battlefront, being present among the Union soldiers after the Battle of Shiloh (a.k.a. Pittsburg Landing) and the Battle of Stones River; he also entered Richmond, Virginia, with the troops of General Grant . On August 28, 1862, he married Emma C. Revell, with whom he had a daughter, Emma Reynolds Moody, and two sons, William Revell Moody and Paul Dwight Moody . </P> <P> The growing Sunday School congregation needed a permanent home, so Moody started a church in Chicago, the Illinois Street Church . </P> <P> In June 1871 at an International Sunday School Convention in Indianapolis, Dwight Moody met Ira D. Sankey, up to then a single - gospel - singer, with whom he soon began to cooperate and collaborate . Four months later in October 1871 the Great Chicago Fire destroyed Dwight's church building, as well as his family dwelling and the homes of most of his churchmembers . Many had to flee the flames, saving only their lives, and ending up completely destitute . Moody, reporting on the disaster, said about his own situation that: "...he saved nothing but his reputation and his Bible ." Moody's chapel was rebuilt within three months as the Chicago Avenue Church . </P> <P> In the years after the fire, Moody's wealthy Chicago supporter John V. Farwell tried to persuade him to make his permanent home in Chicago, offering to build a new house for Moody and his family . But the newly famous Moody, also sought by supporters in New York, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, chose the tranquil farm he had purchased next door to his birthplace in Northfield, Massachusetts . He felt he could better recover from his lengthy and exhausting preaching trips in a rural setting . Northfield became an important location in evangelical Christian history in the late 19th century as Moody organized summer conferences which were led and attended by prominent Christian preachers and evangelists from around the world . It was also in Northfield where Moody founded two schools (Northfield School for Girls, founded in 1879, and the Mount Hermon School for Boys, founded in 1881) which later merged into today's co-educational, nondenominational Northfield Mount Hermon School . Western Massachusetts has had a rich evangelical tradition including Jonathan Edwards preaching in Northampton as well as C.I. Scofield's preaching in Northfield . A protégé of Moody founded Moores Corner Church, in Leverett, Massachusetts, which remains evangelical to this day . </P>

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