Boaz was a Nephite city reached during the final wars with the Lamanites. After the Nephites were beaten at the city Desolation, they fled to Boaz and held it against the first Lamanite assault, standing “with exceeding boldness.” On the Lamanites’ second attack the Nephites were “driven and slaughtered with an exceedingly great slaughter,” and their women and children “were again sacrificed unto idols” (Mormon 4:20–21). The surviving Nephites then fled again, taking with them the inhabitants of the towns and villages (Mormon 4:22). Seeing that the Lamanites were about to overrun the land, Mormon went to the hill Shim, in the land Antum, and recovered the records Ammaron had hidden there (Mormon 4:23; Mormon 1:3).