For many musicians, it is the song that they learn first. It has been sung around countless campfires; the soundtrack to marshmallows roasting on fallen branches.
But many are oblivious to the man behind the legend--or even that there was a man to begin with. It is the (mostly) true story of love, lust, jealousy, and the hanging of a possibly innocent man.
Dooley’s Childhood and Young Love
Tom Dula (pronounced “Dooley”) was born into a poor family from Wilkes County, North Carolina, in 1845. As a youth he became close with Ann Foster and her younger cousin Laura. It is Laura that would later be his downfall.
As children, Tom Dula and Ann Foster fell in love. However, in 1862, before they could marry, Tom signed up with the 42nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment to fight for the Confederacy.
Ann despaired at Tom going off to war. Believing that she would never see Tom alive--or in one piece--again, Ann married an older farmer named James Melton.
The Murder of Laura Foster
Tom returned from the war in 1865 and discovered that Ann Foster was now Ann Melton. Although she was married, Tom and Ann renewed their love affair.
However, just one woman could not satisfy the young soldier. Tom soon began an affair with Ann’s cousin Laura, much to Ann’s dismay. Laura became pregnant, and the two lovers planned to run away and elope.
In May, 1866, on the night she was to meet and elope with Tom, Laura disappeared. From here, fact and myth intertwine.
Laura’s body was found in a shallow grave with several stab wounds in her chest. Tom Dula quickly became a suspect and he fled to Tennesse. A posse soon caught him and he stood trial.
The graphic nature of the murder made the trial headlines across the newly restored country. Despite being defended by former North Carolina Governor Zebulon Vance, Tom Dula was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed May 1st, 1868.
Was Tom Dooley Innocent?
Questions and half-answers surround Tom Dula and the murder of Laura Foster. The most prominent question is the role Ann Melton played, and if she was the murderer.
Ann Melton was originally indicted along with Dula for the murder, although she was not convicted. It was Melton who told authorities where Laura Foster was buried.
Certainly, Melton had as strong a motive as Dula for getting rid of Foster. As Dula’s lover, Melton’s jealousy may have driven her to the killing, and that Dula took the blame for her.
Another option is that the two of them conspired together to kill the pregnant Foster to avoid marriage so that they could continue their affair.
Although Dula wrote a letter before his hanging exonerating Melton, reports allege that Ann Melton confessed to the killing on her death bed.
The Legend of Tom Dooley
Around Wilkes County, there was much sympathy for Tom Dula. He was a popular young man, handy with a banjo and fiddle, and was alleged to be a war hero. Many locals believed that he was covering for his lover Ann.
Not long after his death a local poet named Thomas Land wrote a poem that became the song “Tom Dooley.” It was first recorded in 1929 by a group called “Grayson and Wittier.” Gilliam Grayson was the nephew of Col. Grayson, who was Dula’s employer for a short while and figures into some of the legends as a suitor to Laura.
It was the Kingston Trio, however, that brought the song to the masses in 1958. The song was immensely popular, and led to a movie in 1959 starring Michael Landon as Tom Dooley.
The Truth About Tom Dooley
Unfortunately, the only people who could tell the truth about Dula, Melton, and Foster have been buried for over one hundred years. So much myth has been mixed in with truth, that we may never know what really happened that night to that young lady.
