The song is based on the 1866 murder of in Wilkes County, North Carolina. The man convicted of the crime was Tom Dula (pronounced "Dooley" in the local dialect), a Confederate veteran and farmhand.
: Despite proclaiming his innocence, Dula was hanged in Statesville, N.C., on May 1, 1868. The Kingston Trio - Tom Dooley - 1958
Released in 1958, "Tom Dooley" became a "mammoth hit" that reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts and sold over three million copies. The song is based on the 1866 murder