Other arguments aside; this article says Lee surrendered the Confederacy. I could have sworn he surrendered the Army of Virginia.
That’s right. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia, whose hopes were all gone, not the Confederacy, over which he did not have command.
The Battle of Palmitos Ranch, the last land battle of the war--and a Confederate victory--was fought more than a month later, on May 12-13. The war at sea continued, as the CSS Shenandoah captured a Yankee whaling fleet in the Bering Sea, probably saving hundreds of whales. One might say the war was finally over when the Shenandoah docked at a port in England and struck its flag on November 22, 1865.
And shortly after at Bennett Place Gen Johnston surrendered the Confederate Forces in the Southeast.
Actually, the war went on for several months in Arkansas, Indian Territory after Lee’s surrender.
[snip]
Cornelius Boudinot wrote to Stand Watie and the remaining troops of the Cherokee Volunteers on May 11, 1865 as the war was coming to it’s fateful conclusion. He was dispatched as delegate, as he had been many times, to meet with the Confederacy leadership in Shreveport, Louisiana.
“Dear Uncle,
The surrender of Lee and Johnson virtually puts an end to the war on the other side of the river. The people from Virginia to the Miss. river are willing to try the experiment of absolute submission and return to the old Union. Gen Smith in my opinion will hold on if possible a month or two yet, until the hopelessness of further resistance is apparent to the world, before he will yield the contest. From all that I learn his army will fall to pieces. The war will close in some shape by the 1st day of August, unless the old story of foreign intervention should be verified. Our policy should be to remain still and watch the current of events.
Aff’ly Yr. Nephew, Cornelius”
On June 23, 1865, Brigadier General Stand Watie and the remnants of the Cherokee Mounted Rifle formally ceased hostilities at Doaksville at Fort Towson near The Red River in the Choctaw Nation. Nearly sixty years old, he was the last general to lay down arms in the Civil War, two months after Lee surrendered to Grant.
From Chapter 14 PEACE of “Jesus Wept” An American Story
http://jesusweptanamericanstory.blogspot.com/