Although no battles were fought at Calico Rock, the area saw considerable military activity. The 4th Missouri Cavalry (C.S.) and 1st Illinois Cavalry skirmished at Calico Rock Landing on May 26, 1861. Following a Nov. 16, 1863, fight near Salem, Confederate troops fell back to Calico Rock. Col. T. R. Freeman’s Confederates were based at Calico Rock in late 1863 and early 1864, operating against the 1st Nebraska Cavalry. Part of the 8th Missouri Militia Cavalry (U.S.) was posted at Calico Rock in 1864, and Freeman had returned by that December. Civilians around Calico Rock also suffered from soldiers who took their food and supplies and from lawless bands of bushwhackers who raided the area. John Quincy Wolf’s memoirs recount a band that terrorized a region from the Buffalo River to Calico Rock and Sylamore. After one raid in which livestock and other property were stolen, Wolf’s father and other furloughed Confederate soldiers formed a posse, pursued them, and caught them at Shipp’s Ferry Landing, where 11 bushwhackers, including the leader, were dead when the smoke cleared.