at the appointed time, and at the place of david george, the assembling was as it should be. quantrell meant to attack jennison in independence and destroy him if possible, and so moved in that direction as far as little blue church. here he met allen parmer, a regular red indian of a scout, who never forgot to count a column or know the line of march of an enemy, and parmer reported that instead of three hundred jayhawkers being in independence there were six hundred. too many for thirty-two men to grapple, and fortified at that, they all said. it would be murder in the first degree and unnecessary murder in addition. quantrell, foregoing with a struggle the chance to get at his old acquaintance of kansas, flanked independence and stopped for a night at the residence of zan harris, a true southern man and a keen observer of passing events. early the next morning he crossed the big blue at the bridge on the main road to kansas city, surprised and shot down a detachment of thirteen federals watching it, burned the structure to the water, and marched rapidly on in a southwest direction, leaving westport to the right. at noon the command was at the residence of alexander majors.