John Coffee Hays

John Coffee "Jack" Hays (January 28, 1817ndash April 21, 1883) was a Texas Ranger captain and military officer of the Republic of Texas and the United States armies. Hays served in several armed conflicts, including the Indian and the Mexican-American wars.

Biography

Hays was born at Little Cedar Lick, Wilson County, Tennessee. His sister, Sarah Hays Lea, was the mother of John Hays Hammond.cite journal|author= |date=May 10, 1926|year=1926|month=May |title=Unique|journal=Time Magazine|volume= |issue= | issn=0040-781X] In 1836, Hays settled in Texas, and joined the Texan army under General Thomas Rusk, who appointed him member of a company of Texas Rangers. His notable deeds on the line of duty against the Mexican forces earned him the promotion to Deputy, and in 1840 he achieved the rank of captain.

Captain Hays, the Texas Rangers, and The Republic of Texas Navy were early adopters of the Colt revolver. The Colt Patterson No.5 Holster Model is known as the Texas Patterson because of use by Hays, his Texas Rangers, and the Texas Navy. Texas Ranger Captains Hays and Walker gave direct input to Samuel Colt which lead to the development of Colt's "Walker" model of 1847 and the reestablishment of Colt Firearms.

In the following years, Hays led the Rangers on a campaign against the Comanche and other hostile tribes, and succeeded in weakening their power. Later, he commanded the force against the invasion from Mexico of 1842 and in the Mexican-American War (1846~1848), where the Rangers excelled and gained a nationwide fame. Despite his youth at the time, Hays is often referred as responsible for giving cohesion, discipline and group mentality to the Rangers, and a rallying figure to his men. "Flacco", a chief of the allied Indian tribe of the Lipan, used to call Hays "Bravo-Too-Much".

Hays was described by Nelson Lee, one of the Rangers under his command as "a slim, slight, smooth-faced boy, not over twenty years of age, and looking younger than he was in fact. In his manners he was unassuming in the extreme, a stripling of few words, whose quiet demeanor stretched quite to the verge of modesty. Nevertheless, it was this youngster whom the tall, huge-framed brawny-armed campaigners hailed unanimously as their chief and leader"."

In 1848, after the war had ended, Hays left the Rangers and travelled to San Antonio and later to California. He settled in San Francisco County, where he was elected sheriff in 1850. He also became active in politics, and was appointed United States surveyor general for California in 1853.

Hays also was one of the founders of the city of Oakland, serving as Oakland's first mayor. In the following years he amassed a considerable fortune with real estate and ranching enterprises. He assumed a neutral position during the Civil War and was elected a delegate to the Democratic national convention in 1876 which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for the presidency of the United States.

Hays died in California on April 21, 1883 and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. A school located in the Montclair neighborhood of Oakland (the current site of the Moraga Avenue firehouse) was named in his honor; it was closed in 1913. Hays County, Texas as well as Hays Consolidated High School near Kyle, Texas are named in his honor.

References

*Robinson, Charles, "The Men Who Wear the Star: The Story of the Texas Rangers", Modern Library, (2001). ISBN 0-375-75748-1.
*Wilkins, Frederick, "The Legend Begins: The Texas Rangers, 1823–1845", State House Press, (1996). ISBN 1-880510-41-3.
*Wilkins, Frederick, "Defending the Borders: The Texas Rangers, 1848–1861", State House Press, (2001). ISBN 1-880510-41-3.
*Wilkins, Frederick, "The Law Comes to Texas: The Texas Rangers 1870–1901", State House Press, (1999). ISBN 1-880510-61-8.