Page:A dictionary of the Book of Mormon.pdf/142

Gideon, Valley of. fifth year of the judges, the Nephites, under Alma, pursued them until they reached the valley of Gideon, and there the Nephites pitched their tents. Learning of the approach of an army of Lamanites, Alma moved his troops towards Zarahemla, in order to protect the capital city.  GIDEON, VALLEY OF. See land of Gideon.   GIDGIDDONAH. A Nephite general, who commanded a corps of ten thousand men in the last great struggle between the Nephites and the Lamanites. He, with all his command, was slain in the final series of battles in the land Cumorah (A. C. 385), when the Nephite nation was annihilated.   GIDGIDDONI. A prophet-general of the Nephites, of the time of Christ; he was commander-in-chief of the armies of the commonwealth, in the days when Lachoneus, the elder, was chief judge and governor, and appears to a certain extent to have shared with that illustrious man the powers of the government. Besides being one of the ablest military commanders that ever led the Nephites to victory, he was also a great prophet, and his inspired teachings, wise counsels and timely reproofs were as valuable in preserving that people from destruction as was his skill, strategy, resolution and courage as a general. Gidgiddoni was chosen commander of the Nephite forces the same year that Lachoneus decided, because of the imperiled condition of the Nephites from the ever-recurring attacks of the robbers, to gather all the people in one region (A. C. 16). In this gigantic, almost unparalleled labor, Lachoneus was zealously supported by Gidgiddoni, under whose direction the assembled hosts fortified their land of refuge. It was not until the next year that all the people had assembled together, for it proved a slow and tedious work to bring millions of people, many for thousands of miles, with all 