Tennessee's Partner

The Oxford Companion to American Literature | 1995 | 700+ words | Copyright

Tennessee's Partner, tale by Bret Harte, published in the Overland Monthly (1869) and in The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Sketches (1870).

Tennessee, “known to be a gambler …suspected to be a thief,” works a mining claim at Sandy Bar, Cal., with his unnamed “Partner.” Although Tennessee once eloped with his Partner's wife, returning after she deserted him too, the Partner remains his affectionate friend. One day Tennessee is captured as a highway robber, and during an impromptu trial his Partner innocently offers his entire “stake” in return for Tennessee's life. This strengthens the determination of the “court” to punish the thief, and he is hanged from a nearby tree. Tennessee's Partner arrives with a donkey cart to claim the body of “the diseased,” and the crowd joins him in a rude but tender funeral ceremony. After this loss, the Partner declines in health. When he dies the following spring, he imagines that he sees his friend coming to welcome him.

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James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Tennessee's Partner." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Tennessee's Partner." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-TennesseesPartner.html

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Tennessee's Partner." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-TennesseesPartner.html

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