this fierce conflict, wherein they undauntedly bore the brunt of the enemy's savage onslaughts, every one was wounded, even that two hundred fainted for loss of blood, yet not one was slain, and their preservation was marvelous in the eyes of their fellow-soldiers.
After this battle the Nephites retained the city of Cumeni, while the Lamanites retreated eastward to Manti, which was situated on the upper waters of the Sidon. Nor was it for several months that that city could be taken, as, owing to internal dissensions at the Nephite capital, and the attempt on the part of some of the people to overthrow the republic and establish a monarchy, Pahoran, the chief judge, was unable to supply the necessary provisions and reinforcements.
In this strait, Helaman and his fellow-officers called on the Lord in fervent prayer, which was not unanswered. They received assurances of deliverance and victory. These blessed assurances inspired fresh faith and infused renewed courage in the war-weary hearts of those not given over to the love of carnage. Fired with the determination, by God's grace, to conquer, they entered on a campaign against the city of Manti, which by strategy they captured before the end of the year (B. C. 63). The moral effect of this victory was so great, that the Lamanites retreated into the wilderness, evacuating the whole of the Nephite territory on the west, but unfortunately taking with them, as prisoners, many women and children. Such was the condition of affairs when Helaman wrote to Moroni, the Nephite commander-in-chief, who was directing the campaign on the eastern side of the continent, and it is from this letter that the above details of the war on the Pacific slope are condensed.
For more than a year Moroni could not send the needed help to Helaman. The rebels in Zarahemla had driven the chief judge out of the city,
