Mormon Witnesses Evil, Leads Army

In 363, the Nephite armies went out of the city of Desolation to battle the Lamanites, but they were driven back. While they were still weary, they were attacked by a fresh Lamanite army. After a sore battle, the Lamanites took the city of Desolation, killing many Nephites and taking many prisoners. Those who were not killed or captured ran to the nearby city of Teancum, which was on the western seashore near Desolation.

The Nephite army lost many men because they attacked the Lamanites. If they had stayed in the city of Desolation, the Lamanites would not have overpowered them. It was, in reality, God’s judgments that overpowered the Nephites, for He allows the wicked to create war, and thereby punish the wicked.

The Lamanites began to prepare for war again. In 364, the Lamanites attacked the city of Teancum, to try to take that city, too.

But the Lamanites were driven back by the Nephites, who again boasted of their own strength. With confidence in their own might, the Nephites regained the city of Desolation.

Thousands of Nephites and Lamanites were killed during these struggles. By 366, the Nephites still had not repented, and the Lamanites attacked them again.

It is impossible to speak, or to write a perfect description, of the horrible scene of blood and carnage among the Nephites and the Lamanites. Every heart was so hard that they all delighted in constant bloodshed. The Lord told me that there had never been such great wickedness among all of Lehi’s descendants, or among all the house of Israel, as there was among this people.

Because they greatly outnumbered the Nephites, the Lamanites conquered Desolation a second time. Then they marched against the city of Teancum and drove out the Nephites. They captured many women and children and offered them up as sacrifices to their idol gods.

In 367, the Nephites went against the Lamanites in great anger, for the Lamanites had sacrificed their women and children. They beat the Lamanites a second time and drove them out of their lands. This time the Lamanites did not come back for eight years. When they did come back, they came in all their power—with an army too numerous to be counted.

From this time on, the Nephites never overpowered the Lamanites again, but began to be swept off the earth like the morning dew before the sun.

The Lamanites attacked Desolation a third time and beat the Nephites in a very sore battle. The Nephites ran to the city of Boaz and stood very boldly against the Lamanites, who had to attack them twice before beating them. The Nephites were again driven and slaughtered, and again their women and children were sacrificed to idol gods. The Nephites ran, taking with them all the inhabitants of their towns and villages.

As I, Mormon, realized that the Lamanites were about to overthrow the land, I went to Shim Hill and took out all the records that Ammaron had hidden unto the Lord.