{{short description|Confederate Army soldier (1844–1868)}} {{use mdy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Tom Dula | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1844|6|23}}<ref name="Ballad" /><ref name="WilkesCo">{{cite web|title=Tom Dula|url=http://www.wilkesnc.org/history/tomdula/|publisher=Wilkes County Chamber of Commerce|accessdate=February 10, 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608041357/http://www.wilkesnc.org/history/tomdula/|archivedate=June 8, 2008}}</ref> | birth_place = Wilkes County, North Carolina, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1868|5|1|1844|6|23}} | death_place = Statesville, North Carolina, U.S. | death_cause = Execution by hanging | other_names = Tom Dooley | known_for = Inspiration for the folk song "Tom Dooley" | occupation = farm hand, soldier }} '''Thomas C. Dula''' (June 23‚ 1844 – May 1, 1868)<ref name="Ballad" /><ref name="WilkesCo" /> was a former Confederate soldier who was convicted of murdering Laura Foster. National publicity from newspapers such as ''The New York Times'' turned Dula's story into a folk legend. Although Laura was murdered in Wilkes County, North Carolina, Dula was tried, convicted, and hanged in Statesville. Considerable controversy surrounded the case. In subsequent years, a folk song was written (entitled "Tom Dooley", based on the pronunciation in the local dialect), and many oral traditions were passed down about the circumstances surrounding Foster's murder and Dula's subsequent execution.<ref name="Ballad">{{cite book | last = West | first = John Foster | title = The Ballad of Tom Dula: The Documented Story Behind the Murder of Laura Foster | publisher = Parkway Publishers |date=April 2002 | isbn = 1-887905-55-3}}</ref><ref name="Head">{{cite book | last = West | first = John Foster | title = Lift up Your Head, Tom Dooley: The True Story of the Appalachian Murder That Inspired One of America's Most Popular Ballads | publisher = Down Home Press |location= Asheboro, North Carolina |date=May 1993 | isbn = 1-878086-20-0}}</ref> The Kingston Trio recorded a hit version of the murder ballad in 1958.<ref name="KingstonTrio">{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r96522| label=The Kingston Trio (album)}}</ref>
The Trio had taken the song, without acknowledgement, from the singing of singer and folklorist Frank Warner, who had learned it from Frank Proffitt, a preserver of traditional culture, during one of the many singing and song-sharing sessions he and his folklorist spouse Ann had enjoyed at the Proffitt and Hicks homes in North Carolina. Frank Proffitt had learned the song, among many others, from his aunt Nancy Prather, whose parents had known Tom, Laura Foster, and Ann Foster. A court case, brought by Frank Warner on Frank Proffitt's behalf, settled the matter of "ownership" of the song in the latter's favor, and he received royalties from the Trio's and other performances of the song.<ref name="Ann Warner Book">"Traditional American Folk Songs from the Anne and Frank Warner Collection"</ref>
==Early life==
Tom Dula was born to a poor Appalachian hill-country family in Wilkes County, North Carolina,<ref name="BRC">{{cite web |url=http://www.blueridgecountry.com/archive/tom-dooley.html |title=Tom Dooley: Bound to Die |accessdate=2009-05-20 |author=Sharyn McCrumb |date=2007-01-01 |publisher=Blue Ridge Country |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090518193528/http://www.blueridgecountry.com/archive/tom-dooley.html |archivedate=2009-05-18 }}</ref> most likely the youngest of three brothers, with one younger sister, Eliza.<ref name="JEF" /> Dula grew up, attended school, and "probably played with the female Fosters" – Anne and her cousins Laura and Pauline.<ref name="AJC">{{cite web |url=http://www.ajc.com/services/content/travel/southeast/nc_stories/2006/09/12/0913dooley.html |title=North Carolina hills hold tale of Tom Dooley |accessdate=2007-10-21 |author=Bill Cissna |date=2006-09-13 |publisher=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution}}</ref>
Three months before his 18th birthday, on March 15, 1862, Tom enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private in Company K, 42nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment. He was captured, and subsequently released in April 1865.<ref name="Ballad" />
Dula wrote a 15-page account of his life, as well as a note that exonerated Anne Foster (then using the married name Melton). His literacy is highly unusual, considering the harsh poverty of his upbringing.<ref name=Head/> Dula played the fiddle and was considered by those who knew him well to be a "ladies' man".<ref name="JEF" />
==Military service== frame|alt=Unidentified man in a Confederate uniform.|Unidentified man in a Confederate uniform. Contrary to newspaper accounts at the time, Dula did not serve in Colonel Zebulon Vance's 26th North Carolina Infantry regiment, he had instead served in the 42nd North Carolina Infantry regiment, under Company K.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Soldier Details - The Civil War (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers.htm |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}</ref> Also, rumors that he "played the banjo" in the army band for Vance's benefit and entertained the colonel with his antics were false. These have often been cited as the reason that Vance was so quick to lead the defense during Dula's trial.{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}}
Dula did not come through the war completely unscathed, as folklore, oral tradition, and some modern writers have claimed. He was wounded several times in battle. His brothers died in the war, leaving Tom as his mother's "sole remaining boy".<ref name="Ballad" />
Dula did sometimes use his musical talents in the army, and on one surviving muster roll he is listed as a "musician" and a "drummer".<ref>{{cite web|website=gen2go.org|url= http://www.gen2go.org/Ed2go-Class-Files/dula-page-17.pdf|title= Dula's Confederate muster card| page=17}}</ref>
{{anchor|The murder of Laura Foster}}
==Murder of Laura Foster== Anne Foster married an older man, James Melton, who was a farmer, cobbler, and neighbor of both the Fosters and the Dulas. Melton also served in the war, taking part in the Battle of Gettysburg.<ref name="JEF">{{cite book| last=Fletcher|first=John Edward| title=The True Story of Tom Dooley: From Western North Carolina Mystery to Folk Legend| year=2013| publisher=History Press| location=Charleston| isbn=978-1626190436| url=http://www.sleuthsayers.org/2013/06/the-death-of-laura-foster.html |edition=1| work=SleuthSayers}}</ref> Both Melton and Dula were captured and sent to a northern prison camp. They were released after the war ended and returned home. Shortly after his return, Dula resumed his relationship with Anne. With a reputation as a libertine,<ref name="WilkesCo" /><ref name="CB1" /> it was not long before he began an intimate relationship with Laura Foster, Anne's cousin. Folklore has it that Laura became pregnant, and that she and Dula had decided to elope.<ref name="JEF" /> On the morning she was to meet Dula, May 25, 1866,<ref name="CB1">{{cite web| url=http://criminalbrief.com/?p=11062| title=Who Killed Laura Foster? |last=Lundin|first=Leigh| date=2010-02-21| work=Tom Dula| publisher=Criminal Brief}}</ref> Laura quietly left her home and rode off on her father's horse. She was never seen alive again.<ref name="Ballad" />
It is not truly known what happened that day, but many stories have grown that implicate Anne Melton. Some tales claim that Anne murdered Laura Foster because she was jealous that Dula was marrying her. These stories say that Dula suspected Anne had killed her, but he still loved Anne enough to take the blame himself. It was Anne's word that led to the discovery of Laura's body, leading to further suspicion of Anne's guilt. Anne's cousin, Pauline Foster, testified that Anne had taken her to the grave one night to make sure it was still well hidden.<ref name="JEF" />
Witnesses at the trial testified that Dula made the incriminating statement he was going to "do in" the one who gave him "the pock" (syphilis). Their testimony suggested that Dula believed Laura had given him syphilis, which he had passed on to Anne. However, the local doctor testified he had treated both Dula and Anne for syphilis (using blue mass), as he also had Pauline Foster, who in fact was the first to be treated. Many believe that Dula caught the disease from Pauline Foster, then passed it on to both Anne and Laura.{{Citation needed|date=April 2013}}
Once the grave had been located, Laura Foster's decomposed body was found with her legs drawn up to fit in the shallow grave. She had been stabbed once in the chest. The gruesome murder and the lovers' triangle, combined with the rumors that circulated in the small backwoods town, captured the public's attention and led to the lasting notoriety of the crime.<ref name="Ballad" />
Dula's role in the murder is still debated.<ref name="CB1" /> After the murder he stopped at the home of his relative Thomas Dula, a site that became Dula Springs Hotel.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/2018/11/11/visiting-our-past-brittain-cove-rural-preservation-development-history/1917736002/|title=Visiting Our Past: Brittain Cove has put rural preservation over development|last=Neufeld|first=Rob|work=Asheville Citizen-Times|date=November 11, 2018|accessdate=November 11, 2018}}</ref> He had fled the area before Laura's body was found, after locals accused him of murdering Laura. Calling himself Tom Hall, he worked for about a week for Colonel James Grayson, just across the state line in Trade, Tennessee. Grayson was later mentioned in the song about Dula, and from that came the myth that he had been Dula's rival for the love of Laura Foster, but Grayson actually had no prior connection to either Dula or Foster.<ref name="CB1" /> Once Dula's identity was known, Grayson did help the Wilkes County posse bring him in, but that was his only part in the affair.<ref name="Ballad" />
=== Trial ===
Following Dula's arrest, former North Carolina Governor Zebulon Vance represented him ''pro bono'', and to the end of his life maintained that Dula was innocent. He succeeded in having the trial moved from Wilkesboro to Statesville, since it was believed Dula could not receive a fair trial in Wilkes County. Nevertheless, Dula was convicted, and although he was given a new trial on appeal, he was convicted again. His supposed accomplice, Jack Keaton, was set free, and on Dula's word, Anne Melton was acquitted. As he stood on the gallows facing death, Dula reportedly said, "Gentlemen, I did not harm a single hair on that fair lady's head."<ref name="CB1" /> He was executed on May 1, 1868, nearly two years after Laura Foster's murder.<ref name="JEF" /> Dula's younger sister and her husband retrieved his body for burial.<ref name="Ballad" />
===Petitions===
In 2001, the citizens of North Wilkesboro presented a petition to North Carolina Governor Mike Easley, asking that Tom Dula be posthumously pardoned. No action was taken.
Tom Dula was ceremonially "acquitted" of all charges by Wilkes County after a petition was sent around Wilkes County and to the county seat. However, this action was unofficial and had no legal standing.<ref name="CB1" /> [[File:TheLump.jpg|thumb|right|Sign along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Wilkes County, North Carolina]]
===Myths===
Much legend and folklore has grown around the tragedy and the life of Tom Dula. Not least of these is that Dula came through the war without a scratch, with Governor Vance making use of Dula's supposed talents with a banjo for his own entertainment. Both Dula's and Vance's accounts, as well as Dula's own military record, show this to be untrue. Nonetheless, the myth has persisted to the present day.<ref name="JEF" />
Another myth holds that while Dula was fighting in Virginia, Anne – apparently despairing of ever seeing Tom again – met and married an older farmer, James Melton. In fact, she had married Melton in 1859, three years before Tom left for the war, though that may not have changed the nature of her relationship with Dula.<ref name="CB2">{{cite web| url=http://www.criminalbrief.com/?p=11015| title=Boy Kills Girl| last=Lopresti|first=Rob| date=2010-01-17| work=Tom Dooley| publisher=Criminal Brief| accessdate=2010-02-21}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=March 2016}}
A final tale is that Anne Melton confessed to the murder on her deathbed. She allegedly confessed to having killed Laura in a fit of jealousy and begged Tom to help her conceal the body. People in the area still say that, on her deathbed, Anne saw black cats on the walls and could hear and smell bacon frying.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
==In popular culture== ===Music=== *Thomas Land is believed to have written a song about the tragedy titled "Tom Dooley" (which was how Dula's name was pronounced) shortly after Dula was hanged. This, combined with the widespread publicity the trial received, further cemented Dula's place in North Carolina legend.<ref>{{cite news| work=The Ballad Index| publisher=Fresno State University| url=http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/LF36.html| title=Murder of Laura Foster, The [Laws F36]| author1=Waltz, Robert B.| author2=Enge, David G.| access-date=August 2, 2015| archive-date=September 24, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924015641/http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/LF36.html| url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=True West Magazine|title=Ask the Marshall: What is the story behind the folk song 'Tom Dooley?'|author=Trimble, Marshall|date=September 25, 2009|url=http://www.truewestmagazine.com/jcontent/history/history/ask-the-marshall/2948-what-is-the-story-behind-the-folk-song-tom-dooley}}{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> * Stonewall Jackson's U.S. country music and ''Billboard'' hit song "Waterloo" (1959) makes reference to Tom Dooley in the final verse. *The music project Windows to Sky featuring SJ Tucker released a version of "Tom Dooley" titled "Tom Dula: Madness Made Us Wild; a Play in Five Verses and a Hanging" (2012), which combines elements of several versions of the story and song, and adapts quotes from the original court transcripts as lyrics. They describe it as "our original reinvention of the 'Tom Dula' story for the Neil Young Americana Contest, June 2012".<ref>{{cite web|author=Windows to the Sky feat. SJ Jucker| url=http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/windowstosky6| title=Tom Dula: Madness Made Us Wild; a Play in Five Verses and a Hanging|website=CDBaby|accessdate=February 12, 2015}}</ref> *Bob Dylan's song "Murder Most Foul" (2020) makes reference to Tom Dooley.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Murder Most Foul {{!}} The Official Bob Dylan Site |url=https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/murder-most-foul#:~:text=Take%20me%20to%20the%20place%20where%20Tom%20Dooley%20was%20hung |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=www.bobdylan.com}}</ref>
===Other=== *Michael Landon portrayed Dula in the movie ''The Legend of Tom Dooley'' (1959).
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Portal|American Civil War}} * {{Cite web |url=http://www.blueridgecountry.com/archive/tom-dooley.html |title=Finding Tom Dula's and Laura Foster's resting places on archive of blueridgecountry.com web site |access-date=May 20, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090518193528/http://www.blueridgecountry.com/archive/tom-dooley.html |archive-date=May 18, 2009 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} * [http://www.TomDooleyBook.com Tom Dooley – The Story Behind the Ballad by Karen Wheeling Reynolds] {{ISBN|978-0-9846398-0-9}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070808020608/http://www.wilkesplaymakers.com/contente.asp?page_id=dooleye Tom Dooley: a Wilkes County Legend, a Play ] * {{Cite web |url=http://www.wilkesnc.org/history/tomdula/ |title=Tom Dula's story on archive of Wilkes Chamber of Commerce website |access-date=October 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031208114158/http://www.wilkesnc.org/history/tomdula/ |archive-date=December 8, 2003 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} * [https://archive.today/20121220171131/http://www.mce.k12tn.net/johnson/legends/tom_dula.htm Tom Dula's gravestone images] * [http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?sp=Markers&sv=M-48 North Carolina Historical Marker] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216083445/http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?sp=Markers&sv=M-48 |date=February 16, 2012 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dula, Tom}} Category:1844 births Category:1868 deaths Category:19th-century executions by the United States Category:19th-century executions of American people Category:People from Wilkes County, North Carolina Category:American Civil War prisoners of war held by the United States Category:American people executed for murder Category:Confederate States Army soldiers Category:Executed people from North Carolina Category:People convicted of murder by North Carolina Category:People executed by North Carolina by hanging Category:19th-century American murderers Category:19th-century prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government