Hiram Hubbert [Laws A20]

DESCRIPTION: Hiram Hubbard is captured and brought to trial. Although he is not guilty of anything, he is tried and convicted on the evidence of his captors. He makes a will and is summarily shot. (He is reported to have been ninety miles from the crime scene.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909
KEYWORDS: trial execution lastwill trial Civilwar
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Laws A20, "Hiram Hubbert"
Combs/Wilgus-FolkSongsOfTheSouthernUnitedStates 48, pp. 171-172, "Hiram Hubbert" (1 text)
Ritchie-FolkSongsOfTheSouthernAppalachians, p. 77, "Hiram Hubbard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roberts-SangBranchSettlers, #32, Hiram Hubbard" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 367, HIRAMHUB*
Roud #2208
RECORDINGS:
Jean Ritchie & Doc Watson, "Hiram Hubbard" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchiteWatsonCD1)
NOTES [94 words]: Reported to be "an echo of the guerilla warfare in the [Kentucky/Tennessee?] Highlands during the Civil War" (indeed, the RItchie text refers explicitly to rebels) This strikes me as not unlikely. These regions were filled with Unionists who did not like the fact that their states had put them into the Confederacy. It took the Union two years to get troops to Knoxville. Until they did, there was generally trouble between the locals and the Confederate government.
I have not located any actual references to a Hiram Hubbard who was executed in this period. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.2
File: LA20

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