Virginia Chester visits her Aunt Betty who resides near an army post. Lieut. Calhoun falls in love with Virginia, and after a whirlwind courtship persuades her to marry him secretly. Helen Brassey, the daughter of the Colonel, is in love with Calhoun, and gets her father to help her win the lieutenant's affections. The Colonel holds out glowing pictures of promotion and a great future, and regrets his marriage to Virginia. She has managed to conceal her marriage from her father, extending her visit upon various excuses, and Aunt Betty aids her in the concealment. The birth of a boy makes her secret marriage a serious consideration, and she telegraphs Calhoun to come to her, he having been removed to a distant post. He wires back advising her to get a divorce, and the shock kills her. Aunt Betty raises the child and sends it to a military school, giving it her name. Twenty years elapse, and the youth is a graduate of a military academy. On her death-bed Aunt Betty tells him the story of his birth, and John burns with a desire to avenge his mother. The war breaks out and he secures a lieutenancy under Calhoun, now a general. On the eve of a great battle, John keeps the southern army advised of every move made by the northern officers, by means of a telegraph wire he has tapped, and the northern army is completely outwitted and ambushed. The Confederates win a glorious victory, and capture General Calhoun. Colonel Chester, Virginia's father, releases Calhoun and forces him to fight a duel, m which Calhoun is killed. The meeting between General Calhoun, his son and Colonel Chester is one of the most dramatic situations ever seen in moving pictures.