met with others who would later be connected with his conspiracy. In Cincinnati, Burr visited with his friend, former Ohio Senator Jonathan Dayton, later indicted with Burr for treason. Burr left his "ark" in Louisville to travel overland to Nashville, where he received a very enthusiastic welcome of dinners and balls from the local population. In Nashville, Burr stayed as the guest of General Andrew Jackson. After resuming his river voyage, Burr finally met General Wilkinson at Fort Massac. (Wilkinson would later describe his conversations with Burr as perfectly legitimate, but there is strong suspicion that this opportunity was used to detail plans for Burr's western aggression.) Wilkinson provided Burr with "an elegant barge, sails, colors, ten oars, with a sergeant and ten able, faithful hands," as wellas a letter of introduction to friends in New Orleans, Burr's ultimate destination.

Burr loved New Orleans enough to want to settle there, he said, "were it not for [his daughter] Theodosia and her boy." He used his time in New Orleans to gauge public opinion concerning Mexico and to discuss possible enterprises with persons sympathetic to a Mexican insurrection. Burr's principal contact in New Orleans, wealthy merchant and political leader Daniel Clark, promised $50,000 in support of Burr's projects and subsequently traveled to Mexico to gather information on the strength of Spanish fortresses and the attitudes of the people to Spanish control. Clark told at least one witness that he "might be a duke" in the new empire that would rise after the Burr expedition's conquest .

Burr left