The Nephite refuge was the land to which Lachoneus, governor of the Nephites, ordered his people to gather around A.D. 17 to defend against the Gadianton robbers. After refusing the robbers’ demand to surrender, Lachoneus sent a proclamation that the people gather their women, children, flocks, herds, and all their substance into one place, keeping only their lands (3 Nephi 3:13). The land appointed was the land of Zarahemla and the land between Zarahemla and the land Bountiful, up to the line between Bountiful and the land Desolation (3 Nephi 3:23). They gathered in the land southward, because of the curse on the land northward (3 Nephi 3:24).
By the latter end of the seventeenth year the people had marched by the thousands to the appointed place, where they dwelt in one body, fortified themselves, and put up prayers to be delivered (3 Nephi 3:22, 3:25). Gidgiddoni had them make weapons of war, armor, shields, and bucklers (3 Nephi 3:26). The Nephites left the rest of their lands desolate, taking their flocks, herds, and provisions with them, enough to subsist for seven years (3 Nephi 4:3-4). When the robbers came down in the eighteenth year to take possession of the deserted lands, they found no game or plunder and could not survive in the wilderness for want of food, leaving them no option but open battle against the gathered Nephites (3 Nephi 4:1-4).