Monroe Civil War Days this weekend will honor and remember a time in this nation’s history that pit brother against brother, and even father against son.

“(The Civil War) helped transform this country from a collection of states connected through the Constitution into a single nation,” said Martin Johnson, Miami University Hamilton assistant professor of history. “Through fighting the war, Americans came to a new understanding of themselves and as a nation.”

Civil War Days starts at 10 a.m. Saturday at Monroe Community Park on South Main Street with a memorial and flag presentation on the makeshift battlefield. Events throughout the day Saturday and Sunday will show the visiting public what it was like in the early to mid 1860s on the battlefield, in the camps and in the community, said event chairman George Williams.

“It’s all about the history,” said Williams. “What we’re trying to do is to impact thinking and impart knowledge, wisdom and understanding of what it was like and how it impacted families.”

Monroe Civil War Days is one of hundreds of Civil War reenactment events held throughout the year across the country. Susan Wise, a Civil War Days volunteer, said there will be reenactors that travel to Monroe from across the Midwest.

“Everything is really, really authentic,” she said, “right down to the skivvys.”

Saturday and Sunday’s marquee event will be the live battles, but Williams said one of the more emotionally moving events will be the lantern tours on Saturday night.

“It literally will put tears in your eyes, because it’s about the after effect,” he said.

The lantern tours take people through the Union and Confederate camps and onto the battlefield where they meet a 16-year-old girl standing before her father who died on the battlefield.

“It’s a really moving experience, and everyone who went though it last year thought it was one of the highlights of the events,” she said. “It’s going to be a really unique event that not many reenactments have.”

Saturday’s event will feature an 1860s era baseball game featuring the Monroe Golden Lads against the Monroe High School baseball team. On Sunday, the event will feature a Calvary competition featuring hundreds of horses and the Abraham Lincoln-Jefferson Davis presidential debate.

The event is free to the public, but donations will be accepted. Food donations are also being requested. Craft and food vendors will also be at the event. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.monroecivilwardays.com.