After overseeing the transfer of Richmond, Breckinridge joined Lee's forces at Farmville, Virginia, on the night of April 5 and remained there until April 7. He continued on to Danville, arriving on April 11 to discover that Lee had surrendered on April 9 and the Confederate cabinet had already fled to Greensboro, North Carolina. Arriving in Greensboro on April 13, he advised the cabinet that the remaining Confederate armies should be surrendered; only Davis and Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin disagreed. At Bennett Place, he assisted Joseph E. Johnston in his surrender negotiations with Major General William Tecumseh Sherman. Sherman later praised Breckinridge's negotiating skills, and the surrender terms agreed to were later rejected by Washington as too generous, forcing Sherman to offer the same terms as Grant had at Appomattox, which were accepted.