The Nephites, gaining in strength every day as their armies had time to assemble, soon routed the vengeful Lamanites who were led by the Amalekites and the Amulonites. It is strange to note that almost all the Lamanites who were slain in these bloody encounters were the descendants of Amulon and his fellow priests who served wicked King Noah. Amulon and his brethren had fled into the regions surrounding the City of Nephi to elude the wrath of Zeniff’s people (Mosiah 19:21), and also who had afterwards joined the Lamanites. (Ibid., 23:35) Those of the Amulonites who escaped the Nephites’ fury by flight into the wilderness that lay to the east of Ammonihah arrogated to themselves all right to govern the fleeing Lamanites who had then become a disorganized and beaten army.
In the East Wilderness, the Lamanites, seeking revenge for their defeats, found a goodly number of other Lamanites who had been converted unto the Lord; many of these the Amulonites cruelly burned to death “because of their belief.” (See, ibid., 17:14-15) Scattered here and there were other remnants of the once proud and victorious Lamanite Army—now looking bedraggled from loss and affliction— began to remember the things Aaron had preached to them “in their land.” They concluded that he had not lied to them, and further, that the Lord whom Aaron proclaimed had given to the Nephites great power such as to overcome their adversaries and to resist their foes although they might far outnumber them. These Lamanites began to question the truth “of the traditions of their fathers, and to believe in the Lord ... and thus there were many of them converted in the wilderness.”
Once again the hatred which the apostate Nephites had for all believers in Aaron’s words was vented upon the converted ones, whom, those who were left of Amulon’s children “caused that they should be put to death, yea, all those that believed in these things.”