Director Thomas Heffron and actor James Bradbury arrived in Los Angeles, CA, from Selig's Chicago studios and were prepared to work at Selig's Jungle Zoo studios, according to the 11 December 1915 Motion Picture News. Heffron was ready to begin filming The Valiants of Virginia, but first he had to make The Return (released as Into the Primitive, see entry) with Kathlyn Williams, who would then follow him to The Valiants of Virginia, along with actors Guy Oliver and Harry Lonsdale. According to an item, date-lined "Los Angeles, May 13," in the 27 May 1916 Motion Picture News, many of the picture's interior scenes had already been filmed, while the Selig technical crew were building the production's larger sets.
       That same week's Moving Picture World noted that James Bradbury, "for the first time in over thirty years," was donning "black-face make-up" for his role of "Jeff, the old negro servant" in The Valiants of Virginia. Another item in the same issue mentioned that the film "requires a large cast, and many of the sets are massive and elaborate."
       The 10 June 1916 Motion Picture News reported that Hefflon filmed "during the past week" in the San Fernando Valley with "a great number of extra people." The scenes began with "a fox hunt of the southern type, and several of the best kennels of the coast contributed dogs for it. Another very notable event filmed was a tournament similar in character to the gathering of knights and ladies of royalty in an early English period. Following the making of these big scenes, a masquerade ball with costumes of the Elizabethian period will be staged at the studio, where massive sets, specially prepared for these scenes, are ready."
       The Valiants of Virginia had its premiere at the V-L-S-E Theater in Chicago, IL, "beginning July 2," according to the 15 July 1916 Motography.
       In his 15 July 1916 Moving Picture World review, James S. McQuade gushed over the film's antebellum atmosphere and charm, as if yearning for the Old South: "The fox hunt in part three is a delicious reminder of that noble sport in the good old days of Virginia, and its realism is accentuated by the use of a real fox as well as bugles in the chase. There seems to be no limit to the resourcefulness of the Selig Zoo." Also, the prologue's supper scene, "which occupies the greater length of [reel] one, has also the distinct atmosphere of the days gone by, and the famous Valiant pudding, blazing with light brandy that adds to the aromatic bliss of its secret compounding, and proudly borne to the table by a colored servitor, is a sight that awakens many recollections." McQuade especially marveled over James Bradbury's black-face portrayal of the kindly old "Jefferson."
       Wid's complained about the prologue, particularly the banquet scene in which the "Valiant pudding" with a small blaze emanating from its brandied surface was passed around a table, with no other light source in the room. There was also, at the film's opening, "an annoyingly long title which is unnecessary and certainly should be removed." However, the reviewer added that the film "is a production of life in a community which continued to live out the traditions of a past generation. That...will undoubtedly interest many people who always rave about anything which has to do with the South."
       The National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) included this film on its list of Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films as of February 2021.