Summary:
Union General Darius Couch, commanding the Department of the Susquehanna at Chambersburg, writes General in Chief Henry Halleck in December, 1863, concerning the situation in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania. Couch reports that everything is working smoothly since trouble makers have been driven off or arrested by General Franz Sigel.

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HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE SUSQUEHANNA,

Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK,
Gen.-in-Chief, Washington, D. C.:

Chambersburg, Pa.,

December 10, 1863.

GEN.:

I respectfully state that I recently met at Reading, Pa., a committee of the coal men of Lehigh Valley. Everything is working excellently in that district, some of the worst characters having been arrested by Gen. Sigel; others have fled from that region, and the operators are again getting their mines under proper control. So soon as the other two anthracite districts, viz, Schuylkill and Wyoming, agree to certain propositions the bad characters will be cleared out of the country. The supply of coal increased with less number of miners, and matters will probably resume the quiet of before the war.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

D. N. COUCH,
Maj.-Gen.

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Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 3, Volume 3, Serial No. 124, Pages 1164, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.