CHATTANOOGA, November 14, 1864.

Major-General THOMAS:

GENERAL: General Cruft has organized and now in camp fourteen commissioned officers, thirty-one enlisted men, fit for field duty, 1,635 enlisted men fit for light duty, besides there are 354 convalescents unfit for duty and 301 recruits. A complete and detailed report will be ready to-day.

A. VON SCHRADER,

Lieutenant Colonel and Asst. Insp. General, Department of the Cumberland.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND, INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Chattanooga, Tenn., November 14, 1864.

Brigadier-General WHIPPLE, Asst. Adjt. General, and Chief of Staff:

GENERAL: In obedience to verbal orders of the major-general commanding, I have the honor to inclose with this reports of the effective strength of the troops at the posts and garrisons of Chattanooga and Whiteside's, Tenn., and Bridgeport, Ala., also a detailed report of Brigadier-General Cruft referring to the organization of convalescents at this post.

General Cruft has begun to arm the troops under his command to-day, and informs me that he will probably have all of them armed within two or three days. Thee are still a number of small detachments of enlisted men and some commissioned officers in this city, who were sent here for the purpose of guarding baggage, stores, &c. They have neither reported to the post commandant nor to Brigadier-General Cruft, and are found in small camps inside of the fortifications, at the railroad depot, or in houses in or about the city. Some of these officers and enlisted men were found and sent to the convalescent camps on Friday last, between the hours of 12 m. and 3 p. m., when armed patrols were sent out with instructions to arrest every commissioned officer and enlisted man found on the streets of Chattanooga and have them report at the headquarters of Brigadier-General Cruft, in order to ascertain their authority for being absent from their command. I doubt not that there are still more such detachments in and about this city which could better be controlled if sent o the convalescent camps of their respective commands. I therefore would most respectfully suggest the issue of an order that all such stores or baggage be stored by the quartermaster's department, and the commissioned officers, as well as the enlisted men, in charge of such stores or baggage, be ordered to report to Brigadier-General Cruft for duty (commissioned officers and enlisted men belonging to the Fourth and Twenty-third Corps might be returned to their respective commands as soon as fit for duty), and that all detachments of convalescents, recruits, &c., be ordered to at once report to the post commandant on their arrival in this city, and by him directed where to encamp or further report for duty. The issue of such an order appears very necessary, as in spite of the vigilance exercised by the post commandant, Colonel Carlton, Eighty-ninth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, a number of commissioned officers and enlisted men are found loitering about the city without having reported for duty. An order to the officers of the subsistence department not to issue rations to any one but troops regularly garrisoned, unless the provision return be approved of by the post commandant, would also greatly diminish their number.

The garrison at Whiteside's, Tenn., consists of the Fifteenth Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson com-