AllMovie

Like most of the director's Biograph Civil War dramas, D.W. Griffith's The Honor of His Family can be regarded today as precursor to his more celebrated Birth of a Nation. James Kirkwood heads the cast in this story of an old Southern aristocrat who swells with pride as his young son marches off to the battlefield at the head of his regiment. Alas, the boy turns coward under fire and races back home. To preserve the family honor, the stern father regretfully shoots his own son in cold blood -- then, with the help of a faithful family servant, he drags the body back to the battlefield so it will appear that the boy died a hero's death. The film's battle scenes were lensed on location in Coytesville New Jersey.