 By May 26 1865, a representative of Smith's negotiated and signed surrender documents with a representative of Major General Edward Canby in Shreveport, Louisiana, then took custody of Smith's force of 43,000 soldiers when they surrendered, by then the only significant Confederate forces left west of the Mississippi River.With this ended all organized Southern military resistance to the Union forces.Smith signed the surrender papers on June 2 on board the U.S.S.