resting_place death_date death_place influenced pseudonym birth_place imagesize notableworks birth_date spouse genre image article_title birth_name occupation
brock cemetery trenton , georgia , usa 11 december 1869 knoxville , tennessee , usa mark twain , william faulkner , flannery o'connor `` mr. free , '' `` sugartail '' allegheny city , pennsylvania , usa 142px '' ` ral born durn 'd fool '' -lrb- 1867 -rrb- sut lovingood : yarns spun by a nat 20 march 1814 mary emeline nance jane pride `` local color old southwest '' humor , political satire , george-washington-harris . jpg george washington harris
 george washington harris writer , riverboat captain , jeweler
george washington harris

george washington harris -lrb- march 20 , 1814 , allegheny city , pennsylvania -- december 11 , 1869 , knoxville , tennessee -rrb- was an american humorist best known for his character , `` sut lovingood , '' an appalachian backwoods reveler fond of telling tall tales .
harris was among the seminal writers of southern humor , and has been called `` the most original and gifted of the antebellum humorists . ''
his work influenced authors such as mark twain , william faulkner , and flannery o'connor .
harris moved to knoxville as a child , where he worked variously as a silversmith , riverboat captain , and farmer .
his earliest works were political satires published in the `` knoxville argus '' around 1840 , and his earliest attributable works were four sporting stories published in the new york `` spirit of the times '' in 1843 .
he wrote his sut lovingood tales for various newspapers in the 1850s and 1860s , twenty-four of which he compiled and published as his only book , `` sut lovingood : yarns spun by a nat ` ral born durn 'd fool '' , in 1867 .
harris died in knoxville in 1869 after mysteriously falling ill on a train ride .
