“Teancum Stole Privily into the Tent of the King and Put a Javelin to His Heart”

“In many ways, Teancum was a heroic extension of Moroni’s own quickness, decisiveness, and boldness. Teancum’s personal courage went almost to the point of recklessness, in a way that appeals to our sense of adventure even while we recognize the dangers…We do not know whether Teancum soberly calculated the cost in lives of another battle or was inflamed with fury against the renegade Nephite who had caused so much bloodshed. At any rate, while the armies slept in exhaustion, he crept through the Lamanite camp to Amalickiah’s tent, killed him silently, and then withdrew…the Lamanites awoke on the first day of the new year (in 66 B.C.) to find their king dead and the Nephites poised for battle.” (Eugene England, Ensign, Sept. 1977, 29)