James Monroe Deems Band (4th NH Vol Infantry) Books, Set 1. His most important legacy was his 1850 book, "Vocal Music Simplified", which was one of the earliest public-school music texts in the U.S. James Monroe Deems James Monroe Deems (1818–1901) was an American composer and music educator from Baltimore, Maryland, as well as a distinguished Union Army officer during the American Civil War. He served as lieutenant colonel of the 1st Maryland Cavalry. On July 26, 1866 President Andrew Johnson nominated Deems for appointment to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the United
James Monroe Trotter Blanche Kelso Bruce was appointed to the office, serving 1891–1893. Trotter died of tuberculosis after his return to Boston. The James M. Trotter Convention Center in Columbus, Mississippi was named in his honor. "James Monroe Trotter (1842–1892) was a prominent 19th-century civil rights advocate. He came to Boston to join the Massachusetts 54th* Regiment, the first African-American corps of soldiers in the Civil War. After the war, Trotter became the highest ranking, non-elected African-American in the federal government in his position as Federal Recorder of Deeds. He was the father of civil-rights leader William Monroe Trotter." – The Bostonian Society,