Tall, athletic, born to a southern Maryland plantation, Walter Bowie spent much of the war spying, raiding, and enlisting support for the Confederacy. He once was captured and imprisoned but soon escaped. On the morning of October 7, 1864, after he and his men had robbed the store and fled toward Rockville, he was shot in the face by Ashton carriage maker William H. Ent and soon died--the only casualty of the "Battle of Ricketts Run."

Bowie was sheltered at the William M. Canby farm Rose Hill days before the robbery, for which Canby was imprisoned until war's end. Pardoned by President Lincoln, Canby later served in the Maryland House of Delegates. Rose Hill is now part of the Stonegate subdivision near Cloverly. Shown here in a 1940s photograph, the c.1800 farmhouse is now owned by Elie and Lesley Rogers.