“Vital spark of heavenly flame, Quit, O! quit the mortal frame”. Upon singing these words at Affeviar Church in Richmond, VA on Christmas day 1848, Henry Brown made a resolution that set him on a course to become one of America’s most famous escaped slaves. “I would be no longer guilty of assisting those bloody dealers in the bodies and souls of men.” Steadfast in his faith, Brown sought to break his own bonds and dedicate his life giving witness to the evils of slavery.

However, escaping to the North was notoriously difficult and the consequences of getting caught were dire. While working in the fields, he had an epiphany. He would ship himself from Richmond to Philadelphia in a wooden crate. With help from his friend Samuel Smith (conductor of the underground railway), arrangements were made for him to be shipped by the Adams Express Company. He was fully aware that he would most likely not survive the journey. Nevertheless, he persisted.

Over the course of Brown’s 26 hour journey, he was transported by wagon, train, steam ship, and barge. In all, he was transferred from one form of transit to another over ten times, each presenting their own specific dangers of discovery. This piece looks at four of those, painting a sonic landscape based on the sounds that Brown may have heard and musically tempered by his state of mind based on his own account.

My goal for this piece is not to tell Brown’s story. I don’t think its my place to do that and I highly recommend that anyone wanting to learn more should read Brown’s own memoir as well as William Still’s The Underground Railroad and Jeffrey Ruggles’s extensive biography The Unboxing of Henry Brown. Rather, my goal is to raise awareness of Brown’s significant, but often overlooked contribution to American history and the anti-slavery movement around the world.

1. Samuel A. Smith Residence – Richmond, VA

“I laid me down in my darkened home of of three feet by two and like one about to be guillotined, resigned myself to my fate.” – Henry Box Brown, Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown

2. The Crossing at Aquia Creek – Stafford County, VA

“The box was set end down on the steamboat, putting Brown on his head, but here, wrote McKim, ‘he was surrounded by a number of passengers; some of whom stood by & often sat on the box. All was quiet & if he had attempted to turn he would have been heard’” – Jeffrey Ruggles, The Unboxing of Henry Brown

3. 2nd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue – Washington, DC

“The box was loaded onto the freight car with Brown again placed head downwards, and the train pulled out. After a while Brown found that ‘my eyes were swollen almost out of my head, and I was fast becoming insensible.’” – Jeffrey Ruggles, The Unboxing of Henry Brown

4. Vigilance Committee Office – Philadelphia, PA

“I had risen as if it were from the dead; I felt much more than I could readily express; but as the kindness of Almighty God had been so conspicuously shown in my deliverance, I burst forth into the following hymn of thanksgiving” – Henry Box Brown, Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown