Usually we're talking about the same organization. The Georgia state militia had been organized by the legislature decades earlier, but Confederate military removed most eligible males from the rolls. What remained were those older or younger than those within the age range for conscription (18-45), with seventeen-year olds and men between the ages of forty-five and fifty being taken by the law of Feb. 17, 1864. These were assigned to the junior and senior reserves. Most Georgia State Guards units enrolled for six months in the summer of 1863 were composed of men within these age ranges.

In 1864 Governor Brown ordered state militia into service for defense of Atlanta and other threatened points. The militia cenus of January 1864 was conducted to help determine who was eligible to serve in each militia beat. Unless called by the governor into actual service, those remaining at home (home guards) continued to act as required by law to assure "domestic tranquility" and enforce the laws in their home county.

Citizens didn't enlist in the militia. They were simply a pool of men eligible for service when called on by county militia officers, much as citizens might be called for jury service today. A man who was not required to serve could volunteer -- for instance a minister, a teacher, a county officer or a disabled veteran, but 'home guards' were not paid, armed, equipped, supplied or uniformed like regular soldiers or militiamen serving under actual call. When on duty, these citizens generally remained within the borders of their home counties and usually went home when done for the day.

These were certainly not Confederate soldiers and generally were excluded from eligibility for postwar pension relief of veterans and widows.