Regarding all the politicking surrounding the appointment of brigadier generals in early 1865, I haven't conducted any real research in that area. My focus was on Leeper, and I believe my source for that brigadier general information was reports in the press he was up for the appointment. When I get a chance I'll pull my file on him, dust it off and see where that was coming from.

Your assessment of what transpired sounds solid and the timeline sounds right. Leeper was a lightning rod of controversy inside Missouri, and Weber wasn't. I'll try to dig into this this weekend.