The movie is based on a true event: On October 19, 1864, 21 Confederate cavalrymen entered the U.S from Canada, arriving about 15 miles south in St. Albans, Vermont. Confederate agent George Sanders organized the event, and Lieutenant Bennett Young led the raid. Young mounted the steps of a hotel and shouted, "This city is now in the possession of the Confederate States of America!" The Confederates robbed three banks, then ran back over the border. They also planned to blow up downtown with dynamite, but it rained. In 1914, Vermont placed a historic marker in front of Taylor Park, commemorating what became the northernmost engagement of the Civil War. A commemorative plaque is at the entrance of what was the Franklin County Bank. It is the only one of the three banks involved that is still standing and still a bank.
In "What's My Line", guest panelist Van Heflin commented that Richard Boone stole this movie from him, to which celebrity guest Mr. Boone demurred. Possibly, Heflin was just being falsely modest.
The movie used the same set used for Mayberry on the Andy Griffith show. Josiah's Bank was the exterior of the Mayberry courthouse.
The version shown on Fox Movie Channel has a squeezed Fox CinemaScope logo tacked onto the beginning, but the film was shot "flat" and is shown open-matte at 1.37:1.