Helaman - Commander of The Stripling Warriors

Commander of The Stripling Warriors

Helaman's army of two thousand young men is often referred to as the two thousand stripling warriors, or the sons of Helaman. Theirs is one of the most well-known stories from the Book of Mormon.

In brief, Helaman and his band marched in the 26th year of the reign of the judges (circa 66 BC) to the western part of the land of the Nephites and there joined the existing Nephite forces. There they played a pivotal role in some crucial Nephite victories. As a result of those victories, the Nephites regained possession of all of the western cities which had been taken by the Lamanites. Although two of the battles they participated in were very bloody, the army of Helaman did not incur a single fatality. Helaman attributed this to divine preservation.

Helaman wrote an epistle to the captain of the Nephite armies, Moroni, informing him of their success and expressing confusion that the government did not send more troops and support to the western front. Moroni received the epistle in the 30th year of the reign of the judges (circa 62 BC). The next year the Nephites successfully drove the Lamanites back into the land southward and thus the war ended at last.