The Story of the “Ballad of Tom Dooley”1

The Story of The "Ballad of Tom Dooley"

Years ago I was performing in Wilkes County, North Carolina. On the program was a friend of mine named Bobby McMillan, a fine folk performer, storyteller, and ballad singer whom I had known since our early performing days up in Cosby, Tennessee, in the cradle of the Great Smoky Mountains. I did my usual stories leading into songs, with a smattering of Civil-War-era songs, and African American ballads such as "Stagolee" thrown in for good measure. After our performances, several of the local teenagers and college-aged folks gathered around to talk and "swap lies." One of the locals expressed their joy at my songs about "bad men" and mentioned that an old folk legend, "Tom Dooley," had taken place around those parts and that some of them were "kin" to the characters in the song. I expressed interest and was shortly taken up to the gravesite of Tom Dula and his alleged murder victim, Laura Foster. Then they proceeded to tell me of the local legend that Tom had "not committed the murder," but that Laura's cousin, Anne Foster Melton, who had been a rival for the affections of Tom, had given a "death-bed" confession to the murder. There was some talk of a "social disease" as having been another motive for the crime. I began to surmise on the possibilities that Tom had "heroically" given up his life to "protect" Anne. I began to dig around and have come up with the following story.

Thomas C. Dula (pronounced Dooley) was born in 1844 or 1845² and grew up in Wilkes County, North Carolina. It was near the town of Elkville (present day Ferguson) on State Route 268 west of Wilkesboro. He served in the Confederate Army in Company "K" of the 42nd North Carolina Infantry Regiment, which was commanded by Colonel George C. Gibbs. The Regiment was in service from 1862 until the surrender in 1865. Several of the soldiers in the companies in this regiment were given bounties of $50 for joining the Confederate service,³ so it can be assumed that Company "K" received this bounty also. This company was one of three that were on detached service as guards for prisoners of war in the Confederate States Military Prisons at Salisbury, North Carolina.⁴ They saw action at Newport Barracks, Darbytown Road, and were in the "trenches" at Petersburg.⁵

After the surrender Tom returned home to Wilkes County, North Carolina, where his newfound status as a "War Hero" began to "turn the heads" of all of the local females. When Tom returned, he found that his childhood sweetheart, Anne Foster (born circa 1836)⁶ had married a local cobbler and farmer named James Melton on June 22, 1859⁷ . He proceeded to court her younger cousin, Laura Foster (?–May 28, 1865)⁸ , which, according to local legend, gained for Laura the enmity of her cousin Anne. This assignation resulted in the pregnancy of Laura Foster, who began to pressure Tom to marry her. He supposedly agreed to secretly meet her and to take her to Tennessee with him. The last time anyone saw Laura alive was on May 27, 1866.

In July of 1866, Tom Dula, masquerading as "Tom Hall," arrived in Johnson County, Tennessee, at the door of a man named James W. M. Grayson (1833–1901). Grayson was well known locally as a politically-connected man who had served with distinction in the Union Army as Lt. Colonel of the 4^th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment, U.S.A.⁹ He was one of the Loyal Unionists who met in several meetings called East Tennessee Conventions in unsuccessful hopes of staving off Tennessee's entry into the Confederacy. These conventions were attended by such luminaries as Andrew Johnson, W. G. "Parson" Brownlow, Congressman Horace Maynard, and Thomas A. R. Nelson. One convention was held in Knoxville, Tennessee, on...