A very special delivery: how a Virginia slave had himself packed and shipped to Philadelphia--and freedom.

• Author: Cowan, Alison Leigh
• Position: NATIONAL - Henry Brown - Brief biography

The wooden crate that arrived in Philadelphia that day was the plain-looking sort typically used to transport clothing and textiles. Just over 3 feet long, it was 2 feet 8 inches deep and not quite 2 feet wide. Written on the side were the words "this side up with care."

Although the recipient of the box was expecting the delivery, he was not fully prepared for what was inside: a 200-pound man named Henry Brown.

Brown was a slave when he left Richmond, Virginia, on March 23, 1849, concealed in the box he had designed for this purpose.

When he arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a day later--by express mail--he was a free man.

Risking his life by having himself shipped like an order of merchandise was an audacious act at a time when the nation was embroiled in a fight over slavery. But the story of Brown's flight from slavery--several hours of which he spent upside down--never quite earned the recognition it deserved.

Abolitionists no doubt found Brown's escape inspiring, but some feared that publicity would only make it harder for other slaves to follow the same path to freedom. That was true of James Miller McKim, the man in Philadelphia who accepted the delivery. McKim, a Presbyterian minister and abolitionist, shared a dramatic account of the event with a friend, but urged him to keep it quiet. He warned that it might "prevent all others from escaping in the same way."

To bring attention to this extraordinary pre-Civil War story, the New York Historical Society made available to The New York Times its copy of the account that McKim wrote three days after Brown's arrival:

"Here is a man who has been the hero of one of the most extraordinary achievements I ever heard of," McKim wrote to his friend in New York. "He came to me on Saturday morning last in a box tightly hooped, marked 'this side up' by overland express, from the city of Richmond!! Did you ever hear of any thing in your life to beat that?"

27 HOURS IN A BOX

The letter goes on to describe how Brown spent 27 grim hours entombed in a tight-fitting box that was tossed and turned repeatedly during the 350-mile journey by wagon, railroad, and steamship.

According to McKim, the box had only a few tiny cracks to let in air. Brown carried a cow's bladder full of water with which he frequently bathed his face and neck; he fanned himself with his hat throughout the trip.

At one point, Brown was traveling upside down in a noisy freight car and was able to shift position enough to...