Robert E. Lee was a Colonel in the United States Army but he was the General-in-Chief of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Lee, as a Colonel in the United States Army, led a battalion of marines to put down the rebellion at Harpers Ferry Armory and captured their leader, John Brown.

Family lore of Jon Avery’s family, particularly those who lived in the southern states, claim descendance from this famous military officer and hero of the Civil War but proof has not been found.