"if John Brown did not end the war that ended slavery, he did, at least, begin the war that ended slavery. If we look over the dates, places, and men for which this honor is claimed, we shall find that not Carolina, but Virginia, not Fort Sumpter but Harper's Ferry and the arsenal, not Major Anderson, but John Brown began the war that ended American slavery, and made this a free republic. Until this blow was struck, the prospect for freedom was a dim, shadowy, and uncertain. The irrepressable conflict was one of words, votes, and compromises. When John Brown stretched forth his arm the sky was cleared,-the armed hosts of freedom stood face to face over the chasm of a broken Union, and the clash of arms was at hands"

Frederick Douglass in a speech at Storer's College at Harper's Ferry, May, 1882.