KNOXVILLE, November 21, 1864.

Major-General STEEDMAN:

Colonel Dickerson, with the last detachment that came, will be sent to you to-day.

J. AMMEN,

Brigadier-General.

KNOXVILLE, November 21, 1864.

Major-General STEEDMAN:

Train with Lieutenant-Colonel Dickerson and detachment commanded by him left here at 2.15 this p.m.

J. AMMEN,

Brigadier-General.

HDQRS. DETACH. FIFTEENTH PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY,
Head of Stevens' Gap, Lookout Mountain, November 21, 1864-11.10 a.m.

Major MOE,

Asst. Adjt. General, Hdqrs. Dist. of the Etowah, Chattanooga, Tenn.:

MAJOR: I have the honor to make the following report: Early on the morning of the 20th instant I left Wauhatchie, Tenn., with twenty-nine men, by order of Colonel William J. Palmer, to ascertain the truth of a report that General Wheeler's entire command was in the neighborhood of La Fayette, Ga. I ascended the Lookout Mountain at Powell's Gap, after swimming my horses across Lookout Creek, passed by the camp of the Nineteenth U. S. Infantry, where I learned that Mr. James Massey has brought in the above-mentioned report the evening before. After visiting McCullough's Gap and learning that there was nothing in Chattanooga Valley, I passed along the mountain road to James Massey's house, and learned that his report was based on the tales of two women, one of whom I saw, and, after questioning her, arrived at the conclusion that Wheeler was not La Fayette, but that she had been frightened by the threats and tales of some of bushwhackers in McLemore's Cove. I learned also at Mr. Massey's that a Mr. Watt Ellison, who formerly lived near Dougherty's Gap, had reported to the citizens that on Sunday and Monday of last week he was Wheeler's command, numbering several thousand men, well mounted, pass across the mountain and down into Broomtown Valley by Neal's Gap. I then visited Ellison and questioned him without mentioning his report, and he ignored it altogether; said he had not heard or seen anything of Wheeler since he went westward several weeks ago. I believe that Ellison circulated the above report, although he denied it when I charged him with it. Such men deserve punishment. I then came on to this place, where I camped two hours after dark.

This a.m., at 4 o'clock, I sent a party of ten men and an intelligent sergeant down Steven's Gap into McLemore's Cove. The sergeant has just returned and makes the following report: At Wylie Bailey's (Bailey's Cross-Roads) he met a Mr. Dorsey, who formerly lived near La Fayette, but is now in the Government employ at Bridgeport, who stated that he left La Fayette on Saturday last, went down Broomtown Valley to Alpine, which latter place he left yesterday with a Mrs. Smith (a Connecticut woman) and arrived at Mrs. Bailey's last night via Neal's and Dougherty's Gaps. Mr. Dorse reports