First of all Arkansas was NOT a "Confederate States" when it siezed the United States Arsenal at Little Rock. Arkansas had not seceeded at the time and had not held a secession convention, or referendum. The first Secession Convention was not held until March 4th, 1861, a month after the siezure of the Arsenal and secession was voted down at that time.
No Action was taken by the United States Government against the State of Arkansas for siezing that Arsenal and forcing Capt Totten to surrender custody of the arsenal. Now that may be a minor point to some people, BUT Arkansas for 3 months after that incident was STILL a State within the United States, therefore it was technically a "Northern" State until it seceeded.
In other word it was Legal for Arkansas to sieze the federal arsenal at Little Rock, while in South Carolina it was not legal to sieze the arsenal at Charleston.
Now did Arkansas eventually become a Confederate State?
YES it did. But that is hindsight judgement, on our part, and is incorrect, given the turmoil of the time, to say that Arkansas was going to become a Confederate State in February 1861. It had the lower Slave ration of any of the Southern states that did join the Confederacy at only 20% of it population. And Slave ownership was even a smaller percentage. Almost all of the slave owners lived along the lower Arkansas and Mississippi River valleys and the remained of the state were non slave owners. In fact the Delta counties of Arkansas threaten to seceed from the remainder of the State when the first secession convention failed to pass an Ordaince of Secession. Even as late as May of 1862 the Governor of Arkansas sent a letter to Jefferson davis threatening to Seceed from the Confederacy and become a Neutral state to both side if the Richmond Government did not defend the Confederate States west of the Mississippi River particularly Arkansas.
Do you think that the United States Government would have reconized that Neutrality?
Second, remember I also, maybe not very clearly, mentioned that the Government of the State of Ohio, in Cincinnate, siezed, in March, artillery which was being shipped to Pine Bluff, which had been purchased and manufacture prior to any hostilities, prior to Arkansas seceeding, while Arkansas was still officially a state within the United States.
So all of this siezing and counter siezing of Military goods was going on before Arkansas ever became a part of the Confederacy. Therefore it was going on within the United States without United States Government interference. It is one thing to declare your self independent from the Federal government and then take control of foriegn property within your state borders. But quite another to sieze control of Government property, while you are still a part of that Governemnts country,
In the case of Arkansas, they definately got the cart before the horse. And the United States Government did nothing to settle the situation like sending federa troops back to Little Rock to retake control of federal property within United States borders.