James Monroe Trotter

Sources
Several letters that James Trotter wrote while serving in the 55th Massachusetts are in Noah Andre Trudeau’s Voices of the 55th: Letters from the 55th Massachusetts Volunteers, 1861-1865 (1996). In addition, editor Richard M. Reid cites Trotter several times in Practicing Medicine in a Black Regiment: The Civil War Diary of Burt G. Wilder, 55th Massachusetts (2010) – for example, see page 33 and page 37. After the Civil War, Trotter published Music and Some Highly Musical People in 1886. As for primary sources on James’ son, Boston University has a collection of William Monroe Trotter’s papers that contain material about William’s involvement with organizations like the National Equal Rights League, the NAACP, and the Pullmans Association. In addition, the W. E. B. Du Bois papers at the University of Massachusetts includes correspondence with William Trotter. For example, in one letter William invited Du Bois to deliver a speech in Boston about Reconstruction. Important secondary sources include Stephen B. Fox’s The Guardian of Boston: William Monroe Trotter (1970), Charles W. Puttkammer and Ruth Worthy’s “William Monroe Trotter, 1872-1934,” Journal of Negro History 43 (1958): 298-316, and Robert Stevenson’s “America’s First Black Music Historian,” Journal of the American Musicological Society 26 (1973): 383-404. You can also read James Trotter’s profile at the Ohio History Center.

Places to Visit
Trotter was wounded on November 30, 1864 during the Battle of Honey Hill, which took place near Ridgeland in Jasper County, South Carolina. This battle was part of General William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea. In Boston you can find historical markers for the James Monroe Trotter House (68 Neponset Avenue) and the William Monroe Trotter House (97 Sawyer Avenue).

Images
House Divided has an image of James Trotter as well as a 1915 image of his son William Monroe Trotter. In addition, the Burt Green Wilder Collection at Cornell University has a photograph of James Trotter in uniform. A 1922 photograph of William Trotter is online at the NYPL Digital Gallery.