Kirby Smith was an interesting and successful Confederate general. As the war progressed Smith rose to the top of the Confederate chain of command west of the Mississippi. After the Union gained control of the Mississippi River, the Confederacy was split in two and Kirby Smith was basically on his own.His area was the parts of Arkansas and Louisiana under Confederate control, Texas, and I suppose parts of the Indian Territory, now Oklahoma.
His area was called "Kirby Smith's Confederacy" or "Kirby Smithdom."
Kirby Smith beat off several Union invasions and did a little invading of his own by sending Sterling Price into Missouri in 1864. The truth of the matter was that the area west of the Mississippi controlled by Kirby Smith was not that important, and it didn't make sense for the Union to expend as much effort in the area as it did.
Kirby Smith surrendered his army, the last effective field force in the Confederacy, in May, 1865, about six weeks after Lee's surrender.
