A controversial figure whose actions escalated tensions between North and South before the start of the American Civil War, Frederick Douglass later eulogized Brown, saying if he "did not end the war that ended slavery, he at least began the war that ended slavery." In the 19th and early 20th centuries he remained an exceedingly infamous figure, regarded by the public both as martyr and terrorist for his raid on Harpers Ferry in an attempt to start a slave revolt. Brown was also an historic figure in Springfield as it was there that he first organized the militant underground railroad movement, the "Subterranean Pass Way", and met with Douglass and Harriet Tubman among other influential abolitionist figures.