These verses describe the view from the top of Cumorah, the final scenes, and Mormon’s epitaph to his dead civilization (compare Moroni 9). The Nephite nation was destroyed, although some individuals and a mixture continued on, as prophesied in 1 Nephi 13:30 and 2 Nephi 3:3.
Mormon’s description is utterly chilling: men, women, and children being “hewn down.” United States history teaches that the greatest land battles fought in North America since the founding of the American republic happened during the United States Civil War—the battle of Antietam, with 23,000 casualties in a single day, and the battle of Gettysburg, with some 50,000 casualties in three days. Even combined they pale in comparison to the carnage at Cumorah, which witnessed 230,000 dead and only relatively few survivors among the Nephites. No wonder Mormon’s soul was ripped apart with anguish as he cried: “O ye fair ones … ! O ye fair ones… . I mourn your loss.” He concluded his lament with a wish for things that might have been and ultimately with his knowledge of the Resurrection.
Perhaps we can better appreciate why the Lord and his prophets weep for God’s children. Enoch poignantly described the scene: “Wherefore, for this shall the heavens weep, yea, and all the workmanship of mine hands. And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Enoch, and told Enoch all the doings of the children of men; wherefore Enoch knew, and looked upon their wickedness, and their misery, and wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook” (Moses 7:40–41).