The Late War between the United States and Great Britain is an educational text written by Gilbert J. Hunt and published in New York in 1816. The Late War is an account of the War of 1812 written in the style of the King James Bible.
The Late War is a history of the War of 1812. It begins with President James Madison and the congressional declaration of war, writing "James, whose sir-name was Madison, delivered a written paper to the Great Sanhedrin of the people, who were assembled together." It continues, later describing the Burning of Washington, the Battle of New Orleans, and the Treaty of Ghent.
The Late War was written in "biblical style", that is, emulating the style of the King James Bible, and is published with chapter and verse notation. For example, the author introduces the Battle of Queenstown with the text:
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Near the conclusion of the work, the Battle of New Orleans is described: <blockquote></blockquote>
In the third edition (1819), G J Hunt added a preface encouraging the use of the work in schools:
In the 21st century, speculation arose that The Late War influenced the 1830 work The Book of Mormon. In 2013 two brothers, Chris and Duane Johnson, speculated that early in his life, Joseph Smith had read the book and have concluded that the book heavily influenced his writing of The Book of Mormon.
Latter-day Saint historians dismiss the claim that Joseph Smith ever read the book, as no historical sources exists to support it, and they reject the idea that he was influenced by it in his writing of the Book of Mormon, suggesting instead that the large number of minor overlaps between the two texts can be best explained by the shared linguistic environments both were written in and the statistical probabilities of language use. Significant borrowing would have likely involved more substantial and unique phrases or ideas being replicated in a way that transcends mere coincidence or common linguistic influence.