Zerahemnah was the Lamanite commander in the war against the Nephites around 74 B.C. He appointed Amalekites and Zoramites as chief captains over his army, men of a more murderous disposition than the Lamanites themselves, to keep their hatred toward the Nephites alive and to advance his aim of stirring the Lamanites to anger and gaining power over both peoples (Alma 43:6-8). His soldiers carried swords, cimeters, bows, arrows, stones, and slings, but had no body armor and fought naked except for a skin about the loins, in contrast to the armored Nephites (Alma 43:20).
In the battle near the river Sidon, the army under Captain Moroni encircled Zerahemnah’s larger force on both banks, and the Lamanites, seeing themselves surrounded, were struck with terror (Alma 43:51-53). Moroni offered to end the fight if they would give up their weapons and swear an oath not to return to war. Zerahemnah delivered up his sword, cimeter, and bow but refused the oath, saying he and his children would break it; Moroni returned the weapons and told him to depart with an oath or be destroyed (Alma 44:8-11).
Zerahemnah then rushed forward to kill Moroni, but one of Moroni’s soldiers struck the raised sword to the ground, broke it at the hilt, and took off Zerahemnah’s scalp, holding it on a sword point as a sign of the fate awaiting his troops (Alma 44:12-14). After further fighting, with his men being cut down, Zerahemnah cried out to Moroni and agreed that he and his people would covenant never to make war against the Nephites again, and the survivors were allowed to depart into the wilderness (Alma 44:19).