RATHER THAN SURRENDER....

General M. Jeff Thompson's command was widely dispersed throughout northeast Arkansas at the end of the war. In March 1865, as commander of the Northern Sub-District of Arkansas, he agreed to surrender his command at Chalk Bluff, Arkansas on May 11, 1865.  His men were ordered to assemble at Wittsburg and Jacksonport, Arkansas, lay down their arms and receive their paroles.  Some units disbanded rather than surrender their colors;  many just went home. About a 1/3 of his men refused to surrender. J O Shelby's Missouri Brigade, along with elements of Green's and Jackman's Missouri Brigades, headed for Mexico. 

Most men on the parole lists actually served in the unit with which they surrendered.  Some men, having seen no service, attached themselves to various regiments solely for the purpose of surrendering. They thought that having a parole would provide them, former confederates, with protection from arrest or capture.

Also, following the war, General Sterling Price took his troops to Mexico rather than surrender.  Price became leader of a Confederate exile colony in Carlota, Veracruz, but when the colony proved to be a failure and he was unsuccessful in seeking service with the Emperor Maximillian, he returned to Missouri.