if you read the correpondence of men who recruited volunteers and had them in camp waiting to be accepted by the Confederate government, it made a great deal of difference. Without Confederate commissions, men who expected to become officers could not draw upon Confederate commissaries or quartermasters for pay, food, shelter or equipment. Men were either supplied by private means or they disbanded and went home.

Men who organize and arm for paramilitary purposes without state of federal authority are called guerillas.