There really ought to be a review of militia in each of the Confederate states to cover the subject completely.

I'm reading a book on the life and times of Benjamin Franklin which attributes creation of the militia system in America to him. British troops weren't able to protect the colonial settlements during the French and Indian War, and something had to be done for self-defense in Pennsylvania. Franklin devised a system for the colony by which local citizens could organize, elect their own officers and react if attacked. The successful system was quickly adopted by other colonies, and later was employed against British soldiers during the American Revolution.

In most states the militia was a standing organization which existed primarily on paper. Most male citizens within a specific age range belonged to the militia. Elections were held for county militia officers, and drills being scheduled at least once annually. You could think of it like a roll of voters; on election day citizens living in specific districts were expected to appear at a polling place, but many might not do so.

The militia didn't actually go into field service unless called by the governor of the state. Most state constitutions gave the governor this authority, but limited the term for which militia could be called. This was a budgetary consideration, because militiamen weren't paid unless actually called into service.

State law in Southern states required militiamen to go on regular patrol duty. Designed to exercize some control over the slave population, people understood patrol duties in the same sense as jury and road duties. During the war militia patrols in many Southern counties turned their attention to apprehension and arrest of white men attempting to evade military service. This kind of activity is vividly described in the novel Cold Mountain.

Organizations like the Missouri and Kentucky State Guards were created by their state legislatures to provide a more useful military arm. Officers and men were called into service for up to twelve months, much longer than the standard militia term of service of ninety days. Evidently the Arkansas state legislature never enacted any such military law.

People also misunderstand the connection between the militia and soldiers in service of the Confederate states. Ordinarily militia (including state guards)were under control of the governor. Arms, equipment and provisions for the militia were provided by the state rather than the Confederate government. State and Confederate authorities had disagreements as to how military assets such as militia units should be deployed. Unless the governor offered their services to the Confederacy, and Confederate authorities accepted his offer, they always remained under state control.

I don't know about Arkansas pension legislation, but it may have excluded veterans who only claimed state service during the war. Of course applications that were denied by the pension board can still be interesting. They often provide details of service that we can't know about otherwise.