PITTSBURG, PA., November 1, 1864.

Major-General COUCH,

Chambersburg, Pa.:

Lieutenant-Colonel Foulk just arrived from Erie. Says they have two 6-pounders there and only need small-arms. Will I send the section of artillery from here?

THOS. A. ROWLEY,

Brigadier-General.

PITTSBURG, PA., November 1, 1864.

Major RICHARD I. DODGE,

Harrisburg, Pa.:

I have taken the liberty of retaining for a few days Lieutenant-Colonel Foulk, on account of the threatened disturbance at Erie.

THOS. A. ROWLEY,

Brigadier-General, Commanding District.

OFFICE OF ACTG. ASST. PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL, WESTERN DIVISION OF PENNSYLVANIA, Harrisburg, November 1, 1864.

Brigadier General JAMES B. FRY,

Provost-Marshal-General, Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: I have the honor to inclose a copy of a communication received this day from Major General D. N. Couch, commanding department, informing me of his inability to furnish the troops asked in my communications to him of 29th ultimo. In those communications I asked a force of ten companies to be sent into Clearfield and Cambria Counties, and a detachment of forty men for Snyder County. I am reliably informed that there are at this time from 1,200 to 1,800 deserters, delinquent drafted men, and disloyal citizens, armed and organized, engaged in lumbering on Clearfield River, in Clearfield and Cambria Counties. They are said to have a fort in Knox Township, Clearfield County. Many outrages have been committed by these men. My plan, as detailed to General Couch, was to send a force of five companies to Philipsburg, Clearfield County, the terminus of the railroad, to operate from that point. Another column of five companies of infantry, one or more companies of cavalry, and a section of artillery, was to proceed from Ebensburg, in Cambria County [where I have now a detachment of twenty men], directly down Clearfield River. It was hoped that the operations of these two columns might force the deserters,&c., to take refuge in their fort [if they have one], which could be reduced at leisure, and the whole rebellion crushed out at a blow. Failing in this, these disaffected would at any rate be forced from their fortresses along the head of Clerafield River into the more open country, and be thus more easily captured or dispersed.

It is of the utmost importance that troops be moved against these people at once: First, they will all vote for the opposition. Second, in a very short time the roads will be impassable to troops. Third, many of their rafts are completed, and only await the rise in the river to proceed to market. If the rise occurs before the troops reach there, many of these men will escape down the river on their rafts. Fourth, they are all