According to Brent Merrill, perhaps the best single description of Nephite military organization during the reign of the judges is found in Alma 2:13. This verse states that the Nephites "appointed captains, and high captains, and chief captains, according to their numbers"-meaning according to the number of men each type of captain commanded. This all sounds very similar to the statements reported by Ixtlilxochitl and other sixteenth-century writers about Mesoamerican captains. These accounts speak of "captains," "five minor leaders or captains," and "great" captains or "chiefs." [A. Brent Merrill, "Nephite Captains and Armies" in Warfare in the Book of Mormon, pp. 268-269]