The correct answer to this open question is the following.
Although you did not include references, context, or further information to know who is Henry or the topic of your question, doing some research we can comment on the following.
We assume you are talking about the story of Henry "Box" Brown.
When Henry was sent to Richmond, his parents and siblings were sold and remained slaves in the plantations. Henry had been a slave too and when he was 15 years old he was sent to a tobacco factory in Richmond, Virginia.
I think this would have been heartbreaking for him and his family. They should have been felt devastated. That is why he always tried to be free, and after his wife and kids were sold to a landlord in the state of North Carolina, he decided to escape to Pennsylvania. He got himself into a box and was shipped to the port of Philadelphia.
