SURROUNDED

This story is little known among American historians and involves the early inhabitants that once roamed the land. These are a people long since dead, but alive in ancient tales, passed down through the ages. Society requires law and order to be preserved to prevent anarchy and yet this people were plagued by lawless men who sought only power and gain at the expense of the innocent. These robbers would steal and plunder, rape and pillage and then run back to their secret strongholds before much could be done to stop the carnage.

Finally, it happened that there were wars and contentions throughout the land; for the robbers had become so numerous and did slay so many of the people and did lay waste to so many cities and did spread so much death throughout the land, that it became expedient that all law abiding citizens should take up arms against them, for their designated armies had been largely unsuccessful.

At long last, Lachoneus, the governor of the land, received an epistle from the leader and the governor of this band of robbers; and these were the words which were written, saying:

Lachoneus, most noble and chief governor of the land, behold, I write this epistle unto you, and do give unto you exceedingly great praise because of your firmness, and also the firmness of your people, in maintaining that which you suppose to be your right and liberty; yea, ye do stand well, as if ye were supported by the hand of a god, in the defense of your liberty, and your property, and your country, or that which ye do call so. And it seems a pity unto me, most noble Lachoneus, that you should be so foolish and vain as to suppose that you can stand against so many brave men who are at my command, who do now at this time stand in their arms, and do await with great anxiety for the word--Go down upon the people and destroy them.

And I, knowing of their unconquerable spirit, having proved them in the field of battle, and knowing of their everlasting hatred towards you because of the many wrongs which ye have done unto them, therefore if they should come down against you they would visit you with utter destruction. Therefore I have written this epistle, sealing it with mine own hand, feeling for your welfare, because of your firmness in that which you believe to be right, and your noble spirit in the field of battle. Therefore I write unto you, desiring that you would yield up unto this my people, your cities, your lands, and your possessions, rather than that they should visit you with the sword and that destruction should come upon you.

Or in other words, yield yourselves up unto us, and unite with us and become acquainted with our secret works, and become our brethren that ye may be like unto us--not our slaves, but our brethren and partners of all our substance. And behold, I swear unto you, if ye will do this, with an oath, ye shall not be destroyed; but if ye will not do this, I swear unto you with an oath, that on the morrow month I will command that my armies shall come down against you, and they shall not stay their hand and shall spare not, but shall slay you, and shall let fall the sword upon you even until you shall become extinct.

And behold, I am Giddianhi; and I am the governor of this the secret society of robbers; which society and the works thereof I know to be good; and they are of ancient date and they have been handed down unto us. And I write this epistle unto you, Lachoneus, and I hope that ye will deliver up your lands and your possessions, without the shedding of blood, that this my people may recover their rights and government, who have dissented away from you because of your wickedness in retaining from them their rights of government, and except ye do this, I will avenge their wrongs. I am Giddianhi.

And now when Lachoneus received this epistle he was exceedingly astonished, because of the boldness of Giddianhi demanding the possession of the land, and also of threatening the people and avenging the wrongs of those that had received no wrong, save it were they had wronged themselves by dissenting away unto those wicked and abominable robbers.

Now behold, this Lachoneus, the governor, was a just man, and could not be frightened by the demands and the threatening of a robber; therefore he did not hearken to the epistle of Giddianhi, the governor of the robbers, but he did cause that his people should cry unto the Lord for strength against the time that the robbers should come down against them. Then he sent a proclamation among all the people, that they should gather together their women, and their children, their flocks and their herds, and all their substance, save it were their land, unto one place.

And he caused that fortifications should be built round about them, and the strength thereof should be exceedingly great. And he caused that armies, should be placed as guards round about to watch them, and to guard them from the robbers day and night. He said unto them: As the Lord lives except you repent of all your iniquities, and cry unto the Lord, you will in no wise be delivered out of the hands of those robbers.

And so great and marvelous were the words and prophecies of Lachoneus that they did cause fear to come upon all the people; and they did exert themselves in their might to do according to the words of Lachoneus. Consequently, Lachoneus did appoint chief captains over the armies, to command them at the time that the robbers should come down out of the wilderness against them.

Now the first among all the chief captains and the great commander of the armies was appointed, and his name was Gidgiddoni. It was the custom among these people to appoint for their chief captains, (save it were in their times of wickedness) someone that had the spirit of revelation and also prophecy; therefore, this Gidgiddoni was a great prophet among them, as also was the chief judge. Now the people said unto Gidgiddoni: Pray unto the Lord, and let us go up upon the mountains and into the wilderness, that we may fall upon the robbers and destroy them in their own lands.

But Gidgiddoni said unto them: The Lord forbid; for if we should go up against them the Lord would deliver us into their hands; therefore we will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands, and we will gather all our armies together, and we will not go against them, but we will wait till they shall come against us; therefore as the Lord lives, if we do this he will deliver them into our hands.

And it came to pass in the seventeenth year, in the latter end of the year, the proclamation of Lachoneus had gone forth throughout all the face of the land, and they had taken their horses, and their chariots, and their cattle, and all their flocks, and their herds, and their grain, and all their substance, and did march forth by thousands and by tens of thousands, until they had all gone forth to the place which had been appointed that they should gather themselves together, to defend themselves against their enemies.

And the land which was appointed was the land of Zarahemla, (considered by some today to be the current location of Mexico City), and the land which was between the land Zarahemla and the land Bountiful, yea, to the line which was between the land Bountiful and the land Desolation. And there were a great many thousand people who were called together, who did gather themselves in this land. Now Lachoneus did cause that they should gather themselves in the land southward, because of the great curse which was upon the land northward.

And they did fortify themselves against their enemies; and they did dwell in one land, and in one body, and they did fear the words which had been spoken by Lachoneus, insomuch that they did repent of all their sins; and they did put up their prayers unto the Lord their God, that he would deliver them in the time that their enemies should come down against them to battle. And they were exceedingly sorrowful because of their enemies.

And Gidgiddoni did cause that they should make weapons of war of every kind, and they should be strong with armor, and with shields, and with bucklers, after the manner of his instruction. At length, when those armies of robbers had prepared for battle, and began to come down and to sally forth from the hills, and out of the mountains, and the wilderness, and their strongholds, and their secret places, and began to take possession of the lands, both which were in the land south and which were in the land north, and began to take possession of all the lands which had been deserted, and the cities which had been left desolate.

But, there were no wild beasts or game in those lands which had been deserted, and there was no game for the robbers save it were in the wilderness. And the robbers could not exist save it were in the wilderness, for the want of food; for the people had left their lands desolate, and had gathered their flocks and their herds and all their substance, and they were in one body.

Therefore, there was no chance for the robbers to plunder and to obtain food, save it were to come up in open battle against the people; and the people being in one body, and having so great a number, and having reserved for themselves provisions, and horses and cattle, and flocks of every kind, that they might subsist for the space of seven years, in the which time they did hope to destroy the robbers from off the face of the land.

Eventually, Giddianhi found that it was expedient that he should go up to battle against the people, for there was no way that they could survive subsist save it were to plunder and rob and murder. And they dared not spread themselves upon the face of the land insomuch that they could raise grain, lest the people should come upon them and slay them; therefore Giddianhi gave commandment unto his armies that in this year they should go up to battle against the people.

At length, they did come up to battle; and great and terrible was the day that they did come up to battle; and they were girded about after the manner of robbers; and they had a lamb-skin about their loins, and they were dyed in blood, and their heads were shorn, and they had head-plates upon them; and great and terrible was the appearance of the armies of Giddianhi, because of their armor, and because of their being dyed in blood.

The armies of the people, when they saw the appearance of the army of Giddianhi, had all fallen to the earth, and did lift their cries to the Lord their God, that he would spare them and deliver them out of the hands of their enemies. When the armies of Giddianhi saw this they began to shout with a loud voice, because of their joy, for they had supposed that the people had fallen with fear because of the terror of their armies.

But in this thing they were disappointed, for the people did not fear them; but they did fear their God and did supplicate him for protection; therefore, when the armies of Giddianhi did rush upon them they were prepared to meet them; yea, in the strength of the Lord they did receive them. And as the struggle commenced; great and terrible was the battle thereof, yea, great and terrible was the slaughter thereof, insomuch that there never was known so great a slaughter among all the people.

And notwithstanding the threatening and the oaths which Giddianhi had made, behold, the people did beat them, insomuch that they did fall back from before them. Finally, Gidgiddoni commanded that his armies should pursue them as far as the borders of the wilderness, and that they should not spare any that should fall into their hands by the way; and thus they did pursue them and did slay them, to the borders of the wilderness, even until they had fulfilled the commandment of Gidgiddoni.

Giddianhi, who had stood and fought with boldness, was pursued as he fled; and being weary because of his much fighting he was overtaken and slain. And thus was the end of Giddianhi the robber. The armies of the people did return again to their place of security. The robbers did not come again to battle in that year; neither did they come again in the next year.

And in the following year, they did not come up to battle, but they came up on all sides to lay siege round about the people for they did suppose that if they should cut off the people of from their lands, and should hem them in on every side, and if they should cut them off from all their outward privileges, that they could cause them to yield themselves up according to their wishes.

Now they had appointed unto themselves another leader, whose name was Zemnarihah; therefore it was Zemnarihah that did cause that this siege should take place. But, this was an advantage to the people; for it was impossible for the robbers to lay siege sufficiently long to have any effect upon the people; because of their much provision which they had laid up in store.
And because of the scantiness of provisions among the robbers--for behold, they had nothing save it were meat for their subsistence, which meat they did obtain in the wilderness; and it came to pass that the wild game became scarce in the wilderness--insomuch that the robbers were about to perish with hunger. And the people were continually marching out by day and by night, and falling upon their armies, and cutting them off by thousands and by tens of thousands.

And thus it became the desire of the people of Zemnarihah to withdraw from their design, because of the great destruction which came upon them by night and by day. Finally, Zemnarihah did give command unto his people that they should withdraw themselves from the siege, and march into the furthermost parts of the land northward.

And now, Gidgiddoni being aware of their design, and knowing of their weakness because of the want of food, and the great slaughter which had been made among them, therefore he did send out his armies in the night-time, and did cut off the way of their retreat, and did place his armies in the way of their retreat.

And this did they do in the night-time, and got on their march beyond the robbers, so that on the morrow, when the robbers began their march, they were met by the armies of the people both in their front and in their rear. And the robbers who were on the south were also cut off in their places of retreat. And all these things were done by command of Gidgiddoni.

And there were many thousands who did yield themselves up prisoners unto the people, and the remainder of them were slain. And their leader, Zemnarihah, was taken and hanged upon a tree, yea, even upon the top thereof until he was dead. And when they had hung him until he was dead they did fell the tree to the earth, and did cry with a loud voice, saying: May the Lord preserve his people in righteousness and in holiness of heart, that they may cause to be felled to the earth all who shall seek to slay them because of power and secret combinations, even as this man hath been felled to the earth.

And thus they did put an end to all those wicked, and secret, and abominable combinations, where there was so much wickedness, and so many murders committed. (Based on a true story found in 3 Nephi).