Mosiah 9

We’re going back in time now and this chapter begins the record of Zeniff. He is the man who first led the group of people out of Zarahemla back to the land of Nephi, the same group that Ammon has found years later. To begin with, Zeniff had been a mission to spy on the Lamanites in the land of Nephi to determine how to destroy their armies. But during that mission, he saw much that was good in the Lamanite people and did not want to kill them. This upset his commanding officer who was blood thirsty to destroy the Lamanites. He ordered Zeniff to be killed but an uprising rescued Zeniff and the battle ended up killing most of the force. Zeniff and those remaining returned to Zarahemla, but Zeniff was restless to go back to the land of Nephi. He got a permission to take a group back. The Lamanite king agreed to let them settle on land and after twelve years they were established and producing animals and food. The Lamanite king saw that they could become strong enough to overpower them so he sent forces to kill the people and take their food and animals. In the first battle, Zeniff’s people win killing over 3,000 of the Lamanites while only losing 279 of their own people.