Helaman’s Letter to Moroni
At the start of the 30th year of the judges, on the second day of the first month, Moroni got a letter from Helaman. The letter told about what was happening in that part of the land. This is what Helaman wrote: My dear brother Moroni, I have something to tell you about our war in this part of the land.
The 2,000 Young Warriors
There were 2,000 sons of the men that Ammon brought from the land of Nephi. You know that these people came from Laman, who was the oldest son of our father Lehi. I don’t need to tell you about their old ways or their unbelief. You already know all these things. So I will tell you that 2,000 of these young men took up their weapons of war. They wanted me to be their leader. We have come to defend our country. You also know about the promise their fathers made. They promised not to use their weapons against their brothers or hurt them. But in the 26th year, they saw our hard times and troubles. They almost broke the promise they had made. They almost took up their weapons to help us. But I wouldn’t let them break the promise they had made. I thought God would make us strong. I thought we wouldn’t suffer more because they kept their promise.
Joining Antipus at Judea
But here is something that makes us very happy. In the 26th year, I, Helaman, led these 2,000 young men to the city of Judea. We went to help Antipus. You had made him the leader of the people in that part of the land. I brought my 2,000 sons to join the army of Antipus. They deserve to be called sons. Antipus was very happy about this. His army had gotten smaller because the Lamanites had killed many of our men. This made us very sad. But we can feel better knowing this. They died for their country and for God. They are happy. The Lamanites also took many prisoners. All of them are Chief Captains. They didn’t let anyone else live. We think they are in the land of Nephi right now, if they haven’t been killed.
These are the cities the Lamanites took. They killed many of our brave men to get them. The land of Manti, or the city of Manti, and the city of Zeezrom, and the city of Cumeni, and the city of Antiparah. They had taken these cities when I arrived at the city of Judea. I found Antipus and his men working hard to make the city stronger. They were tired and sad. They had fought hard during the day. They worked at night to keep their cities safe. They had suffered many hard times. They had decided to win in this place or die. So you can see why this small group I brought with me, these sons of mine, gave them great hope and joy.
God Helps Them
When the Lamanites saw that Antipus got more soldiers, Ammoron told them not to attack the city of Judea. He told them not to attack us. The Lord helped us. If they had attacked us when we were weak, they might have destroyed our little army. But the Lord saved us. Ammoron told them to keep the cities they had taken. That’s how the 26th year ended. At the start of the 27th year, we got our city and ourselves ready to fight.
We wanted the Lamanites to come attack us. We didn’t want to attack them where they were strong. We kept spies watching all around us. We watched for the Lamanites. We didn’t want them to sneak past us at night or during the day to attack our other cities to the north. We knew those cities were not strong enough to fight them. We wanted to attack them from behind if they went past us. At the same time, others would fight them from the front. We thought we could beat them this way. But we were wrong. They didn’t dare go past us with their whole army. They didn’t dare send just part of their army. They were afraid they wouldn’t be strong enough and would lose. They didn’t dare march to the city of Zarahemla. They didn’t dare cross the head of Sidon to the city of Nephihah. So they decided to keep the cities they had taken.
Supplies Arrive
In the second month of this year, the fathers of my 2,000 sons sent us lots of supplies. Also, 2,000 more men came to us from the land of Zarahemla. We had 10,000 men with supplies for them and for their wives and children. The Lamanites saw our army getting bigger every day. They saw supplies coming to help us. They got scared. They tried to stop us from getting more supplies and help.
A Smart Plan
When we saw that the Lamanites were getting worried, we wanted to trick them. Antipus told me to march with my young sons toward a nearby city. We would make it look like we were carrying supplies to that city. We would march near the city of Antiparah. We would make it look like we were going to the city beyond it, near the sea. We marched as if we were taking supplies to that city. Antipus marched out with part of his army. He left some men to guard the city. But he didn’t march out until I had left with my little army and gotten near the city of Antiparah.
The strongest army of the Lamanites was in the city of Antiparah. It was the biggest army they had. When their spies told them about us, they came out with their army. They marched toward us. We ran away from them toward the north. We led away the most powerful army of the Lamanites. We led them far away. When they saw the army of Antipus chasing them, they didn’t turn right or left. They kept going straight after us. We think they wanted to kill us before Antipus could catch up to them. That way our people couldn’t surround them.
Antipus saw we were in danger. He made his army march faster. But it was night. They didn’t catch up to us, and Antipus didn’t catch up to them. So we camped for the night. Before morning came, the Lamanites were chasing us again. We were not strong enough to fight them. I wouldn’t let my young sons get caught by them. So we kept marching. We marched into the wilderness. They didn’t dare turn right or left. They were afraid of getting surrounded. I wouldn’t turn right or left either. If I did, they might catch us. We couldn’t fight them. They would kill us and get away. We ran all day into the wilderness until it got dark. When morning came again, we saw the Lamanites behind us. We ran from them. But they didn’t chase us very far before they stopped. It was morning on the third day of the seventh month.
The Young Warriors’ Courage
We didn’t know if Antipus had caught up to them. I said to my men: We don’t know why they stopped. Maybe they want us to attack them so they can trap us. So what do you say, my sons? Will you go fight them?
My dear brother Moroni, I had never seen such courage. Not even among all the Nephites. I had always called them my sons because they were all young. They said to me: Father, our God is with us. He won’t let us lose. So let’s go. We don’t want to hurt our brothers if they leave us alone. But let’s go or they might beat the army of Antipus. They had never fought before. But they were not afraid to die. They thought more about their fathers’ freedom than about their own lives. Their mothers had taught them that if they believed, God would save them. They told me what their mothers had said: We know our mothers knew the truth.
The Battle
I went back with my 2,000 to fight these Lamanites who had chased us. The army of Antipus had caught up to them. A terrible battle had started. The army of Antipus was tired because they had marched so far so fast. They were about to lose to the Lamanites. If I hadn’t come back with my 2,000, the Lamanites would have won. Antipus had been killed. Many of his leaders died too because they were tired from marching so fast. The men of Antipus got confused when their leaders died. They started to lose. The Lamanites got brave and started chasing them. The Lamanites were chasing them hard when I came up behind them with my 2,000. We started to kill them. The whole army of the Lamanites stopped. They turned to fight me. When the people of Antipus saw that the Lamanites had turned around, they gathered their men. They came up behind the Lamanites.
Then we, the people of Nephi, the people of Antipus, and I with my 2,000, surrounded the Lamanites. We killed many of them. They had to give up their weapons. They became our prisoners.
Not One Was Killed
After they gave up, I counted the young men who had fought with me. I was afraid that many of them had been killed. But I was so happy. Not one of them had died. They had fought with the strength of God. Men had never fought with such amazing strength. They attacked the Lamanites with such great power that they scared them. That’s why the Lamanites gave up as prisoners. We had no place to keep our prisoners safe from the armies of the Lamanites. So we sent them to the land of Zarahemla. We sent some of the men from Antipus’ army who were still alive to guard them. I took the rest and joined them to my young Ammonites. We marched back to the city of Judea.