How did civilians react when the Civil War brought battles and soldiers into their backyards? That will be the topic of discussion this weekend at Stones River National Battlefield in Tennessee.

Kids who visit a handful of Civil War-era units of the National Park System will be able to earn a special Junior Ranger patch, one that recognizes them as Junior Civil War Historians.

As with the southern Pennsylvania countryside surrounding the town of Gettysburg, the struggles between the United States and Confederate armies from 1861 to 1865 often brought war to beautiful places, with many battles fought in the pastoral landscapes of eastern, southern, and middle America— in rolling fields and woods, along rivers and streams, among farmsteads, and often in or near villages, towns, or cities.

When "controlled burns" are mentioned in the national park system, most thoughts turn to the big, sprawling Western parks, such as Zion, Yellowstone and Yosemite. But using fire as a management tool also is beneficial at places such as Stones River National Battlefield in Tennessee.