According to this instruction, a call went forth asking for volunteers to go to Zion. Five hundred men were wanted; yet, said the Lord: "If you cannot obtain five hundred, seek diligently that peradventure ye may obtain one hundred;" for with less than one hundred they were not to go. The first of May (1834) a part of these volunteers left Kirtland, and on the fifth Joseph Smith and the remainder took up their journey. At West Portage, about fifty miles west of Kirtland, they met and were organized in companies for the journey. Each company was divided as follows: a captain, two cooks, two firemen, two tent-men, two water-men, one runner, two wagoners and horsemen, and one commissary, twelve men in all. Every night before retiring, at the sound of the bugle they bowed before the Lord in prayer in their several tents, and every morning, at the trumpet's call about four o'clock, every man again knelt in prayer, imploring the blessings of the Lord for the day. As they traveled they endeavored to keep their identity unknown so as not to arouse opposition in the country through which they passed. As it was they were followed by enemies and spies, and delegations approached them from time to time to learn the meaning of their journey. The following questions were frequently put and answered in this manner: "Where are you from?" "From the East." "Where are you going?" "To the West." "What for?" "To see where we can get land cheapest and best." "Who leads the camp?" "Sometimes one and sometimes another." Their journey took them through Dayton, Indianapolis, Springfield and Jacksonville, Illinois, and across the Mississippi River into Missouri. It was near the banks of the Illinois River, west of Jacksonville, where the bones of Zelph[3] the white Lamanite, were dug up and mounds, or ancient altars, were discovered. This was about the first of June, and on the third, while still camped on the banks of the river refreshing themselves, the Prophet Joseph got up on a wagon and uttered this prophecy: "I said the Lord had revealed to me that a scourge would come upon the camp in consequence of the fractious and unruly spirits that appeared among them, and they should die like sheep with the rot; still, if they would repent and humble themselves before the Lord, the scourge in great measure might be turned away; but as the Lord lives, the members of this camp will suffer for giving way to their unruly temper." Even this warning did not prevent some of the members of the camp from murmuring and finding fault against their brethren. Message to Governor Dunklin Acting on the commandment in the revelations the brethren in Missouri did not cease to importune the judge and the governor of the state, May 29, 1834, and again June 5, the Saints in Clay County petitioned the governor, and on the 6th, he wrote to Colonel J. Thornton acknowledging the just cause of the Saints in this demand made of him, stating: