Tennessee's Partner by Bret Harte
"Tennessee's Partner" is a short story by Bret Harte set in the mining town of Sandy Bar during the California Gold Rush. The narrative revolves around an unnamed character known as Tennessee's Partner, who has forged a close but complicated relationship with a man called Tennessee. The story explores themes of loyalty, the complexities of friendship, and the harsh realities of life in a rough frontier community.
Tennessee's Partner attempts to find a bride and marries a waitress, but their union is disrupted by Tennessee's inappropriate advances, leading to the wife's departure and Tennessee's subsequent descent into crime. The story takes a darker turn as Tennessee is arrested for robbery and ultimately faces execution. Despite the betrayal and chaos surrounding him, Tennessee's Partner remains steadfast in his affection for Tennessee, reflecting the intricate bonds of camaraderie that can exist even amidst moral ambiguity.
After Tennessee's execution, Tennessee's Partner's health deteriorates, culminating in a poignant death scene where he envisions reuniting with his friend in the afterlife. Harte's work captures the gritty realism of the period and offers a nuanced portrayal of relationships forged in adversity. The story invites readers to reflect on the nature of loyalty and friendship against a backdrop of societal challenges.
On this Page
Tennessee's Partner by Bret Harte
First published: 1869
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: 1853-1854
Locale: Sandy Bar, a fictional Western mining town
Principal Characters:
The narrator , an unnamed resident of Sandy BarTennessee's partner , a devoted friend of TennesseeTennessee , a notorious gambler and thief who is hangedJudge Lynch , who captures Tennessee and presides at his trial
The Story
The unnamed narrator explains that the real name of Tennessee's Partner has—in accordance with Sandy Bar's quixotic practice of rechristening new arrivals—never been known in the mining town. The locals have dubbed the man "Tennessee's Partner" because he teamed up with Tennessee, a wholly disreputable character whose own real name has been similarly obliterated from communal memory.
The narrator goes on to relate the story of Tennessee's Partner's search for a bride. A year earlier, in 1853, the man set out for San Francisco from Poker Flat but got no farther than Stockton, where he was attracted by a waitress in a hotel. During a courtship, the waitress broke a plate of toast over Tennessee's Partner's head, then agreed to marry him before a justice of the peace. With his new bride in tow, the man returned to Poker Flat, and then went to Sandy Bar, where the couple took up residence with Tennessee.
Some time after his partner's return, Tennessee began making indecent advances to the new bride until she ran off to Marysville. He then followed her there and set up housekeeping without the aid of a justice of the peace. A few months later their relationship ended; the woman took up with yet another man and Tennessee returned to Sandy Bar. To the disappointment of the townspeople, who gathered to witness a shooting, Tennessee's Partner was the first man to shake Tennessee's hand, and he greeted him with affection. With no trace of bitterness, and without apology, Tennessee and his partner resumed their former relationship as if the woman had never existed.
The narrator goes on to explain that the residents of Sandy Bar suspect that Tennessee—already known to be a gambler—is also a thief. These rumors are confirmed when Tennessee is caught red-handed after robbing at gunpoint a stranger traveling between Sandy Bar and Red Dog.
After frantically escaping from Sandy Bar, Tennessee is cornered in a canyon, where Judge Lynch finds him. Armed with a better "hand" than Tennessee—two revolvers and a bowie knife—the judge calls Tennessee's bluff and takes him prisoner. During the ensuing trial, conducted by Lynch, Tennessee's Partner tries to buy his friend's freedom, offering a watch and seventeen hundred dollars in raw gold, his only belongings of any real worth. This offer is construed as a bribe, so rather than help the accused, it merely hastens his date with the "ominous tree" atop Marley's Hill. Tennessee is convicted and sentenced to hang.
Tennessee's Partner does not attend the hanging. Afterward, he arrives with a crudely decorated donkey cart and rough coffin to claim Tennessee's body. Followed by a curious crowd, he drives the makeshift hearse through Grizzly Canyon to an open grave near his cabin. There he gives a brief, rustic funeral oration, thanks those in attendance, and buries Tennessee.
After this primitive funeral, the health of Tennessee's Partner declines. He visibly wastes away until he takes to a sickbed and dies. In his final delirious moments, he envisions his reunion with Tennessee in death: "Thar! I told you so!—that he is—coming this way, too—all by himself, sober, and his face a-shining. Tennessee! Pardner!"
Bibliography
Barnett, Linda D. Bret Harte: A Reference Guide. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1980.
Duckett, Margaret. Mark Twain and Bret Harte. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964.
Morrow, Patrick. Bret Harte. Boise, Idaho: Boise State College Press, 1972.
Morrow, Patrick. Bret Harte, Literary Critic. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1979.
Nissen, Axel. Bret Harte: Prince and Pauper. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2000.
O'Connor, Richard. Bret Harte: A Biography. Boston: Little, Brown, 1966.
Scharnhorst, Gary. Bret Harte. New York: Twayne, 1992.
Scharnhorst, Gary. Bret Harte: A Bibliography. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1995.
Scharnhorst, Gary. Bret Harte: Opening the American Literary West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000.
Stewart, George R. Bret Harte, Argonaut and Exile. 1931. Reprint. New York: AMS Press, 1979.