ANOTHER WAR--MORONI, THE LEADER OF THE NEPHITES--THE TACTICS OF THE
LAMANITES--ZERAHEMNAH--THE BATTLE AT RIPLAH--DEFEAT OF THE LAMANITES.
(ALMA CHAP. 43 AND 44.)
The cause which led the Nephite armies to occupy Jershon was that the
Zoramites, finding that their haughty and unjust demands would not be
complied with, had excited the Lamanites to invade the territory of the
Nephites. The Lamanite forces which were commanded almost entirely by
Nephite apostates, on account of their fierce hatred to their former
associates, marched first into the land of Antionum, where they were
joined by the Zoramites. Then the whole of the invading hosts, under
the command of a dissenter named Zerahemnah, advanced northward towards
the land of Jershon.
This was a day of peril for the Nephites. Their enemies were much more
numerous than they, and were filled with a savage thirst for blood,
which was especially felt against those who were of their own race
and kindred who had bowed in obedience to Heaven's commands. At this
juncture the Lord raised up one of the greatest heroes ever born on
American soil. He was not only a military leader, but a priest and
prophet, and by his inspiration and devoted courage the Nephites were
for many years led to uninterrupted victory. Such was Moroni, who now,
though but twenty-five years old, took the chief command of the armies
of his nation.
Though the forces of the Lamanites were much more numerous, all other
advantages were on the side of their foes. The discipline of the
Nephites was better by far; the bodies of their soldiers were protected
by armor, breastplates, helmets, shields, etc., and they were fighting
for the sacred cause of their religion and their country, their altars
and their fire-sides, their wives and their little ones. Inspired by
the justness of their cause and the extremity of their circumstances,
they fought with a courage and a desperation never exceeded in their
annals.
The Lamanites, on the other hand, had no such holy impulses to nerve
their arms for the combat. They were the aggressors, and were hasting
to shed the blood of their brethren. Insane and infernal hatred
alone inspired them for the warfare. Besides, they were ill-prepared
to meet the Nephites, who had such a tactician as Moroni for their
commander-in-chief. The descendants of Laman were simply armed with
swords and cimeters, bows and arrows, slings and stones. Their bodies
were naked with the exception of a skin wrapped about their loins. The
Zoramites and other dissenters from the Nephites were better clothed;
in dress they followed the fashion of the people from whom they sprang.
The Lamanites, finding that Moroni was too well prepared for their
attack on the land of Jershon, retired through Antionum into the
wilderness, where they changed direction and marched towards the
headwaters of the river Sidon, with the intention of taking possession
of the land of Manti. But Moroni was too vigilant to allow his enemies
to slip away without knowing what had become of them. He had his spies
watch the movements of Zerahemnah's forces, and in the meanwhile sent
to Alma to inquire the mind and will of the Lord with regard to his
future course. The word of the Lord was given to Alma, and he informed
Moroni's messengers of the movements of the Lamanites. The young
general, with becoming prudence, then divided his army. One corps he
left to protect Jershon, and with the remainder he advanced by rapid
marches toward Manti, by the most direct route. On his arrival he
at once mustered all the men who could bear arms into his forces,
to help in the defense of their rights and their liberties against
the advancing foe. So rapid had been his movements and so prompt had
been the response to his calls that when the Lamanites reached the
neighborhood of the Sidon he was prepared for their coming.
The battle that was fought when the opposing armies met was one of the
most stubborn and bloody in Nephite history. Never from the beginning
had the Lamanites been known to fight with such exceeding great
strength and courage. Time after time their hosts rushed upon the
well-ordered ranks of the Nephites, and notwithstanding the latter's
armor they crushed in their heads and cut off their arms. But the cost
of these charges to their own numbers was terrible. The battle began
at a hill called Riplah, and afterwards extended to both banks of
the Sidon. At one time a lull took place in the carnage, and Moroni,
who had no pleasure in the shedding of blood, made an offer of such
terms of surrender as he considered the circumstances warranted. But
Zerahemnah and other captains of the Lamanite hosts rejected the offer
and urged their troops to renewed resistance. So the battle recommenced
with unabated ferocity. At last the faith and valor of the Nephites
prevailed; many of the Lamanites surrendered and agreed to a covenant
of peace. Even Zerahemnah himself, wounded and scalped by one of
Moroni's body guard, to prevent the total annihilation of his armies,
at last consented to the proposed terms and entered into the required
covenant of peace. So great were the losses on both sides, especially
of the Lamanites, that the dead were not numbered.
Thus ended the war, but not the Zoramite heresy, for we read, in the
history of later wars between the two nations, of certain Lamanite
captains being of the Zoramites. Foiled in their attempts to destroy
their former brethren and to overthrow the church of God, they still
adhered to their false faith, and on every possible occasion made
manifest their undying hatred to those whose only offense was that they
would not join them in their crimes nor consent to the destruction of
the liberties of the people.