According to David Palmer, Mormon emphasizes the importance of "numbers" of people in winning the battles (Mormon 4;17, 5:6) in his statements concerning the last battles. In view of this, Mormon probably chose an area for the last battle that not only was familiar to the people, but he chose it on the basis of potential for food production. The best way to attract people to his side was to have plenty of food. Choice of a particularly productive area in which to concentrate his people would help him to gather in the largest possible army. This approach stands in contrast to the idea of taking his people on a great march into unfamiliar territory where provision of food would be the single greatest problem. In fact, it would have been suicide. [David A. Palmer, In Search of Cumorah, p. 44]