Thomas C. Dula (June 23‚ 1844 – May 1, 1868) 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, regarding the sensational occurrences surrounding Laura Foster's murder and Dula's subsequent execution. The Kingston Trio recorded a hit version of the murder ballad in 1958. Early life Tom Dula was born to a poor Appalachian hill-country family in Wilkes County, North Carolina, most likely the youngest of three brothers, with one younger sister, Eliza. Dula grew up, attended school, and "probably played with the female Fosters" – Anne and her cousins Laura and Pauline. As the children grew up, Tom and Anne apparently became intimate. Anne Foster's mother found Anne and Tom in bed together when Anne was 14 years old and Tom was just 12. 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, but he was released in April 1865. 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. Dula played the fiddle and was considered to be a "ladies man". Military service Contrary to newspaper accounts at the time, Dula did not serve in Colonel Zebulon Vance's 26th North Carolina Infantry regiment. 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. 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". Dula did sometimes use his musical talents in the army, and on one surviving muster roll he is