Page:A dictionary of the Book of Mormon.pdf/262

Moronihah. king, Ammoron, was slain by Teancum, Moroni drove the Lamanites out of the land of Moroni, into their own country, and thus ended this long-continued and disastrous war.  MORONIHAH. A great Nephite general and prophet, of the days of the republic. He succeeded his father, Moroni, in the command of the Nephite armies, B. C. 60, and the fact of his father resigning in his favor is the first mention made of him in the Book of Mormon. He must have been, at that time, still a very young man, as his father was only about 39 years old, but he had undoubtedly been trained from his boyhood in military affairs in the great war of seven years duration against Amalickiah and Ammoron, which had only been brought to an end the year previous. It was not until B. C. 53 that his armies were called upon to take the field. In that year the Lamanites, urged by the Nephite apostates within their borders, invaded the land of Zarahemla; but Moronihah met and defeated them and they were driven back to their own dominions with great loss.

In B. C. 51, the Lamanites again invaded Zarahemla. They were led by an officer named Coriantumr. He adopted new tactics. Moronihah, believing that the Lamanites dared not push through the centre of the land, but would, as was their custom, first attack the outlying cities, placed his strongest garrisons in those places. Coriantumr, however, made a dash directly towards the Nephite capital, through the densest of the Nephite population, and carried everything before him. The Nephites, surprised and unprepared as they were, resisted him only in small bodies, which were easily dispersed, and he reached and captured the city of Zarahemla before Moronihah could concentrate his forces. The whole country fell into Coriantumr's hands as he pressed forward, and after capturing 