It was a minor skirmish such as touched countless American towns, but it looms large in local lore. In 1864 Confederate partisan Walter Bowie of Prince Georges County organized sympathizers to operate in Montgomery County, harassing Union troops, stealing horses, recruiting soldiers for the South. Two of his recruits were captured by Union troops, and when interrogated revealed that Bowie had been harbored by prominent Montgomery farmer William M. Canby of Rose Hill, near Cloverly. Canby was arrested and imprisoned in Ft. Delaware. To free Canby and others, Bowie devised a scheme: He would capture Maryland Governor Augustus Bradford and use him for prisoner exchange. Confederate Colonel Mosby supplied Bowie with a few hardened rangers. The band of ten reached Annapolis but found the governor well guarded. Their return south took them near midnight through Sandy Spring, past the well-stocked Sandy Spring Store. There, young Alban Gilpin Thomas worked as clerk. His letter to a brother, excerpted in the eyewitness account, tells the rest of the story.

Alban Gilpin Thomas was clerk of the Sandy Spring Store at the time of the robbery and joined in the pursuit of Bowie and his men. He later ran the Ashton Store, became president of the Sandy Spring bank, and organized a bank in Laurel.

On the night of the robbery, the Sandy Spring Store probably looked much as it does in this late 1800s photo. Clerk Alban G. Thomas boarded in his uncle Alban Gilpin's home just behind. At midnight Walter Bowie banged on Gilpin's door to rouse the store owners.