As the record shows, the masses of slain not only included a host of warriors from each side but vast numbers of women and children had been slaughtered. Furthermore the Amlicites and Lamanites had practiced a scorched earth policy. They trampled down the ripened grain and ruthlessly killed many of the flocks. To prevent the decay of the dead from causing a pestilence, the bodies of thousands were thrown into the Sidon River and carried out to sea.