Birth: 1831 (This may not be correct)
Birth Place: Williams County, Ohio

Death: 14 May 1884
Death place: Glendive, Montana

Aquilla Coonrod was born to Woolery and Hulda Coonrod in Springfield Township, Ohio in 1831. His parents were among the first settlers in Williams County and Coonrod became the earliest known white child to be born in the area. His mother died less than a year after his birth and his father Woolery married Mary Coy in 1835. After his father’s death in 1847, Coonrod lived with his stepmother until the start of the American Civil War. He was among the first men in Williams County to volunteer for military service and enlisted with 14th Ohio Volunteer Infantry on April 23, 1861. After his initial 90-day term ended, he joined the 48th and 125th Ohio Infantry eventually rising to the rank of captain. On May 9, 1864, he resigned his commission and took up farming in Pulaski Township. Seven years later, he moved to Bryan, Ohio where he worked at the Hub and Spoke factory.

In 1884, he and his men were escorting U.S Army paymaster Major Whipple and a large payroll shipment for various frontier outposts when they were attacked by a group of bandits. Although Coonrod was mortally wounded, his men drove off the bandits and successfully defended the shipment valued at $20,000.

Burial: Fort Buford Cemetery, South Dakota (originally); reinterred at Custer National Cemetery

Awards: Received a Medal of Honor for Gallantry in Action on 27 April 1877 possibly at Cedar Creek, Wibaux County, Montana.

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