Teancum's Selfless Service

Teancum has always been one of my Book of Mormon heroes.  I think that one thing that made him so great was that even though he was the commander of an army, he did not hesitate to risk his own life in defense of his people.  He was not like Amalickiah who didn’t even go on the first Lamanite attack that the wicked Nephite dissenter had so vigorously campaigned for (Alma 49:11).  We are first introduced to Teancum in Alma 50 with the affair of Morianton who led away some of the Nephites and threatened to overthrow “their liberty” (Alma 50:32).  Teancum headed up the army who confronted Morianton and “a battle commenced between them, in the which Teancum did slay Morianton and defeat his army” (Alma 50:35).  The fact that Teancum himself was the one who fought Morianton tells us a lot about his selflessness.  In the next chapter Teancum and his army fought the army of Amalickiah and when “sleep had overpowered them because of their much fatigue” Teancum himself did not rest.  He risked his own life to go into the camp of the Lamanites and cause the death of Amalickiah in hopes that it would help to end the war.  He could have easily asked one of his soldiers to do this job for him, but he was too unselfish of a man.  Several years later almost the same thing happened: both armies were camped and “weary because of the greatness of the march” (Alma 62:35).  Knowing that Ammoron and his brother Amalickiah had been “the cause of this great and lasting war between them and the Lamanites, which had been the cause of so much war and bloodshed, yea, and so much famine,” Teancum again risked his own life despite his surely overwhelming fatigue.  He slew Ammoron, but this time he was killed and he literally gave his life in service for his people, “a true friend to liberty” (Alma 62:37).  And in fact, his sacrifice essentially did end the war, for in the very next verse we learn that Moroni was able to drive the Lamanites out of the land after so many years of war.  Teancum was truly a great man because he so selflessly led, served, and defended his people.