Page:A dictionary of the Book of Mormon.pdf/228

Lehi. officer under his father. Lehi first prominently appears in the Nephite annals in the great battle fought (B. C. 74) with the Lamanites under Zarahemnah, on the banks of the Sidon, not far from Manti. Moroni was commander-in-chief of the Nephite forces, while Lehi commanded an army corps. Before the battle commenced, Moroni skilfully concealed his troops on both sides of the river, and permitted the Lamanites to pass between. Lehi's men, who had been massed on the east side of the river, on the south of a hill named Riplah, closed in on the rear of the Lamanites, when the latter faced about and gave battle. The fight soon grew fast and furious. The Lamanites perceiving that Moroni was attacking them on both sides, fought with desperation, but with immense loss; and in a short time they fled before Lehi and were driven by him into the waters of the river. Lehi did not cross in pursuit, but halted his soldiers on the eastern side, while the troops more directly commanded by Moroni drove the enemy before them on the western banks. The day ended in a complete victory for the Nephites. When the devastating wars which Amalickiah inaugurated were begun, we again find Lehi in high command. He was chief captain in the city of Noah, and when the Lamanites attacked it, his name alone added to their discomfiture, for, we are told, "they feared Lehi exceedingly" (Alma, 49:17). Lehi's cautious but resolute defense, combined with the perfection of the fortifications built by Moroni around the city, caused the Lamanites to throw away more than one thousand men, and all their chief captains, in the futile attempt to carry the city by storm (B. C. 73).

Lehi continued to be actively engaged during the next war, and appears to have been second in command to Moroni over the army of the northeast. His next conspicuous recorded exploit was