Career
Born in 1825 in Scotland, Avery was living in New York when he joined the He served during the Civil War as a seaman on the United States Ship At the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, he was among the crew of a small boat sent from Metacomet to rescue survivors of the United States Ship Tecumseh, which had been sunk by a naval mine (then known as a "torpedo"). Despite intense fire, the boat crew was able to pull ten Tecumseh men from the water. When asked about the medal he said: "That can tell you more about it than I can.
I did like the rest of the men that day, and I never expected anything more than my pay and rations.
We tried to do our duty, and when we saw the men in the other ship being shot down and some drowning, we could only try to help them. God knows it was hard to see them being murdered without much chance for escape" This incident was reported in the New York Times on January 16, 1898.
Avery later served in one of the bureaus of the Navy Department. He died on October 11, 1898 and is buried in Captain Ted Conaway Memorial Naval Cemetery Portsmouth, Virginia.
