Third Book Of Nephi (Chap. 3.3)

3 Nephi 3:1
And now it came to pass that in the sixteenth year from the
coming of Christ, 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:

3 Nephi 3:2
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 ye 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 defence of your liberty, and your
property, and your country, or that which ye do call so.

3 Nephi 3:3
And it seemeth a pity unto me, most noble Lachoneus, that ye
should be so foolish and vain as to suppose that ye 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 Nephites and destroy them.

3 Nephi 3:4
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.

3 Nephi 3:5
Therefore I have written this epistle, sealing it with mine
own hand, feeling for your welfare, because of your firmness in
that which ye believe to be right, and your noble spirit in the
field of battle.

3 Nephi 3:6
Therefore I write unto you, desiring that ye 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.

3 Nephi 3:7
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.

3 Nephi 3:8
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 ye shall
become extinct.

3 Nephi 3:9
And behold, I am Giddianhi; and I am the governor of this the
secret society of Gadianton; 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.

3 Nephi 3:10
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.

3 Nephi 3:11
And now it came to pass when Lachoneus received this epistle
he was exceedingly astonished, because of the boldness of
Giddianhi demanding the possession of the land of the Nephites,
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.

3 Nephi 3:12
Now behold, this Lachoneus, the governor, was a just man, and
could not be frightened by the demands and the threatenings 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.

3 Nephi 3:13
Yea, 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.

3 Nephi 3:14
And he caused that fortifications should be built round about
them, and the strength thereof should be exceedingly great. And
he caused that armies, both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites,
or of all them who were numbered among the Nephites, should be
placed as guards round about to watch them, and to guard them
from the robbers day and night.

3 Nephi 3:15
Yea, he said unto them: As the Lord liveth, except ye repent
of all your iniquities, and cry unto the Lord, ye will in no wise
be delivered out of the hands of those Gadianton robbers.

3 Nephi 3:16
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.

3 Nephi 3:17
And it came to pass that Lachoneus did appoint chief captains
over all the armies of the Nephites, to command them at the time
that the robbers should come down out of the wilderness against
them.

3 Nephi 3:18
Now the chiefest among all the chief captains and the great
commander of the armies of the Nephites was appointed, and his
name was Gidgiddoni.

3 Nephi 3:19
Now it was the custom among all the Nephites to appoint for
their chief captains, (save it were in their times of wickedness)
some one that had the spirit of revelation and also prophecy;
therefore, this Gidgiddoni was a great prophet among them, as
also was the chief judge.

3 Nephi 3:20
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.

3 Nephi 3:21
But Gidgiddoni saith 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 liveth, if we do this he will
deliver them into our hands.

3 Nephi 3:22
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.

3 Nephi 3:23
And the land which was appointed was the land of Zarahemla,
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.

3 Nephi 3:24
And there were a great many thousand people who were called
Nephites, who did gather themselves together in this land. Now
Lachoneus did cause that they should gather themselves together
in the land southward, because of the great curse which was upon
the land northward.

3 Nephi 3:25
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.

3 Nephi 3:26
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.