There are two consecutive verses in Alma 53 which create some confusion. In Alma 53:22 Mormon states that "Helaman did march at the head of his two thousand stripling soldiers, to the support of the people in the borders of the land on the south by the west sea." Then in the very next verse Mormon notes, "And thus ended the twenty and eighth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi." This creates a chronological question because in Helaman's epistle describing these same events he says that "in the twenty and sixth year, I, Helaman, did march at the head of these two thousand young men to the city of Judea . . ." (Alma 56:9). One might ask, Did Helaman's stripling warriors march in the 28th year which date is found in Mormon's chronicles of the war (Alma 53:22-23), or did they march in the 26th year as found in Helaman's epistle (Alma 56:9)?
In order to understand the solution to this problem, we must understand step by step how Mormon chose to record the war campaigns fought between the Nephites and the Lamanites on both the east coast and the west coast. In Alma 51-53 Mormon abridges the action on the east coast up until the 28th year. At this point in his abridgement Mormon takes time to summarize the success of the east coast campaign (Alma 53: 6-7). In addition, as part of Mormon's summary of the war to date, and after summarizing the events on the east coast, Mormon tries to give some perspective to the reader by making a brief statement about what has happened on the west coast during this time. He proceeds in Alma 53:9-21 to briefly explain the situation of the people of Ammon, and how 2000 of their sons came forth to "fight for the liberty of the Nephites." At the end of this explanation Mormon makes this general statement about the accomplishments of Helaman and the 2000 warriors: "And now it came to pass that Helaman did march at the head of his two thousand stripling soldiers, to the support of the people in the borders of the land on the south by the west sea." (Alma 53:22)
Once Mormon has made this statement in verse 22, knowing that he will later supply the details by including the epistle of Helaman in his abridgment, he considers his summary of the west coast finished and returns again to his abridged story of Moroni (which is taking place on the east coast) with the following statement: "And thus ended the twenty and eighth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi" (Alma 53:23). Thus, Mormon never did specifically date the event of Helaman's march, but rather it was Helaman who placed it "in the twenty and sixth year" (Alma 56:9). [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes] [See Appendix A--Chronology]