California Joe Milner

Moses Embree Milner was born in Stanford, Kentucky on May 8, 1829. At age 14 he moved west to St. Louis, Missouri for a short time and then on to Fort Laramie, Wyoming where he became a fur trapper.[1]

In 1846 during the Mexican–American War he began working as a scout for General Stephen W. Kearny and Colonel Alexander W. Doniphan. Following the war he married Nancy Watts and moved to California, where he became a gold prospector and was then known as "California Joe". In 1853, he left California and built a cattle ranch in near Corvallis, Oregon.[1]

In 1866, California Joe was a scout based in Kansas at Fort Riley and later out of Fort Harker. Then in 1868, Milner was named Chief of Scouts for George Armstrong Custer in Fort Hays where he became acquainted with Wild Bill Hickock and Texas Jack Omohundro.[2]

Milner returned to prospecting and ranching in 1870 near Picoche, Nevada. In 1874, Milner would lead Custer in the Black Hills Expedition and then scouted for the Newton–Jenney Party expedition of 1875 and remained in the Black Hills to prospect. Following Custer's Last Stand he scouted for General George Crook's 5th U.S. Cavalry.[3]

In October 1876, while at Fort Robinson, Nebraska he was shot in the back by Thomas Newcomb, whom he had publicly accused of killing his friend Wild Bill Hickok three months earlier. He is buried at Fort McPherson National Cemetery.[3]

• Media related to California Joe Milner at Wikimedia Commons
• California Joe Milner at Find a Grave