Susan Soderberg, spoke on THE CIVIL WAR (1861-65) IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY. The main road, 355, was not paved. The sentiment was Southern, conservative, and 2% voted for Lincoln. The county was rural with Southern sympathy, but had many Quakers that wanted peace.

In ’61 people were fearful of slave up rise and secession. Though they voted not to secede, the Southern leaning delegates were arrested in Sept ’61. DC slaves were freed Sept ’61.

FEAR was a factor of life. Fear of Union troops. Quartering in homes…training camps. Property confiscated…slaves going to DC…Southern raids in ’61, ’62, ’63, and ’64. An equal number of men from Rockville were in the Union and Southern armies. North/South spying was extensive. Spies carried the mail and disrupted telegraph lines.

Susan Soderberg has other historical topics and we plan to get her back to speak.

Last week’s speaker, Dr Ogle Shaw, spoke on “Physical Fitness”. Because of childhood obesity, today’s children are not going to live as long as previous generations. Instead of exercising for one half hour three times a week, he recommended five minutes a day using a NASA developed exercise device used by astronauts in space.

Dr Shaw demonstrated the exercise device after the meeting. In answer to a question on “diet importance”, he said fresh fruit and vegetables are most important, then frozen, and thirdly, caned fruits and vegetables. Nutritional supplements are also important.

Last week’s Speaker, Dave Fitzwilliam gave a talk about “The Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers” and reviewed two books related to the topic, “The Collapse of Lehman Brothers” by Lawrence McDonald (2009) and “the Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure” by John Allison (2012).