Brig. Gen. Nicholas Bartlett Pearce, commanding the Northwest Division of Arkansas State Troops, appears to have been a sort of free spirit when it came to following directives and organizing his command. The "official" designations of the various State Troops organizations were assigned by the State Military Board when they authorized the raising of regiments and companies. Pearce ignored those designations, and assigned his own, which he seems to have periodically changed, for reasons known only to him.

It makes things mighty tough on researchers, so here's what I decided to do when posting my research. Since most of the surviving records which refer to Pearce's command involve the Wilson's Creek battle, I used the company and regimental designations in use during the events leading up to and including the battle. That at least makes it easier for researchers whose primary interest is Wilson's Creek (the only significant action in the short life of the Arkansas State Troops), and few are pathologically obsessed with the minutiae of changes in the designations (except for peculiar types like me).