It was a bad sign for Fremont. Missouri was a Blair fiefdom and it followed that any commanding general in the state had better get along with the Blairs, and now Fremont had had a number of disagreements with them. Blair after all had struck the first blow there, he had made Nathaniel Lyon a brigadier general, and he removed General Harney from command. The next few weeks saw Fremont lose all remaining good will with the Blairs. For one, there were a vast number of military contracts to be signed and most goods being procured in a highly irregular and sketchy manner. Rumors of graft and favoritism ran rampant and many contractors endorsed by Frank Blair could not seem for the life of them to get aboard the gravy train. Blair's distaste for Fremont was hardening into active hostility.

And then there was Jesse Fremont. The general's wife was the daughter of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton and a bossy, domineering woman who devoted her life to advancing her husband's fortunes and did not like taking no for an answer. She greatly enjoyed the atmosphere around army headquarters and served as her husband's personal secretary, advisor, and confidante. To his wife, Fremont confided his plans for a great push down to New Orleans. "I think it can be done gloriously." "Gloriously" was the operative word, for in 1861 the idea that war was a romantic, dashing adventure still held sway. Also, Fremont had run for president five years ago as the Republican Party's first presidential candidate and he was the hero of abolitionists, and so he must give the war a reason for happening.