Note the difference in the way the Nephite dead are treated as opposed to the Lamanite or Amlicite dead. The Nephite dead are buried. We do not know anything about the reasons for burial, but certainly it was a form of respect for their dead. In contrast, the Lamanites and Amlicites were left without burial. They were specifically thrown into the waters of the Sidon to be carried to the sea. It was a clearly an intentional division in the treatment of the dead, and certainly intended to disrespect the Lamanite and Amlicite dead.
We are not told in what part of the year this war occurred, but it was some time after planting and before the harvest. When the fields were destroyed, it would have led to the compound problem of the deaths of many of the men, and then the loss of the crops themselves. There was anguish for the people who were lost, and the specter of a coming famine.