A Dictionary of the Book of Mormon/Desolation, City of
DESOLATION, CITY OF. Though the land of Desolation is so frequently referred to in the earlier annals of the Nephites, nothing is said of a city of that name until the time of the great final war between the Nephites and Lamanites, and we are left in doubt as to whether it was built or not, until after the advent of the Redeemer. Some suppose it was the place where Hagoth's shipyards originally stood; it is evident it was on the sea coast, as we are told that after one important battle the bodies of the slain were thrown into the sea. In the year A. C. 361, the Lamanites attacked Desolation, but were repulsed and driven back to their own lands. During the next year they made another ineffectual attack, in which they sustained great loss. So great was the exultation of the Nephites at this last victory that their excesses knew no bounds, and they gave way so grossly to iniquity, that Mormon refused to lead them any longer to battle. Strong in their own vain strength, in A. C. 363 the Nephites invaded the lands of the Lamanites, but were disastrously repulsed and pursued, and the city ot Desolation was wrested from them; they, however, recaptured it shortly after. In A. C. 366, the Lamanites once more became the masters of the city, but lost it again the following year. The Nephites retained possession of this stronghold until A. C. 375, when the Lamanites drove them out of all that region, and apparently held it until the end of the war, and the extinction of the Nephites at Cumorah.