The Sons of Helaman, called the “stripling warriors,” were two thousand young men, the sons of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies (Ammonites)—Lamanite converts who had covenanted never to take up weapons. Their sons had entered no such covenant, and around 64 B.C. they assembled, called themselves Nephites, and covenanted to fight for the liberty of the Nephites to the laying down of their lives (Alma 53:16-18). They asked that Helaman, son of Alma the Younger, be their leader (Alma 53:19). Later, sixty more of the sons of the Ammonites came to join the band, bringing it to two thousand and sixty (Alma 57:6).
They were young men, valiant in courage, strength, and activity, true at all times in whatever they were entrusted with, and men of truth and soberness who had been taught to keep the commandments (Alma 53:20-21). Having never fought, they did not fear death, and thought more on the liberty of their fathers than on their lives; their mothers had taught them that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them (Alma 56:47-48). Helaman ascribed their preservation to that faith and to the firmness of their minds (Alma 57:26-27).
After one engagement, Helaman found that not one of them had fallen, though they fought with such force that the Lamanites surrendered as prisoners of war (Alma 56:56). In a later battle, two hundred of the two thousand and sixty fainted from loss of blood, but none perished, and every one of them had received many wounds (Alma 57:25). Helaman attributed this to their obedience: they performed every command with exactness (Alma 57:21).