John Coffee Hays
Encyclopedia
Col. John Coffee "Jack" Hays (January 28, 1817 April 21, 1883) was a Texas Ranger
captain and military officer of the Republic of Texas
. Hays served in several armed conflicts, including the Indian and the Mexican-American War.
. His father, Harmon Hays, was related to Andrew Jackson's wife, Rachel, and named his son for longtime family friend and Jackson protégé Col. John Coffee. His brother was Confederate General Harry T. Hays of New Orleans. His sister, Sarah Hays Lea, was the mother of John Hays Hammond
. In 1836, Hays arrived in Texas. Sam Houston appointed him member of a company of Texas Rangers because he knew Jack's family from Tennessee. Because the social life of the neighborhood centered around General Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage
, the Hays boys heard a never-ending flow of talk of planting, horse racing, military affairs, and politics. No one can say how much Jackson, who was his great uncle, influenced the bright retentive mind of Jack, but he had heard much from him before reaching the age of twelve.
Captain Hays and the Texas Rangers
, were early adopters of the Colt revolver. The Colt Patterson No.5 Holster Model thus became known as the Texas Patterson. Texas Ranger Captains Hays and Samuel Hamilton Walker gave direct input to Samuel Colt
which lead to the development of Walker Colt
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. In 1840, allied Tonkawa Chief Placido with 13 scouts joined with the Rangers and tracked down a large Comanche war party, culminating at the Battle of Plum Creek. Later, he commanded the force against the invasion from Mexico of 1842
, and in the Mexican-American War (1846–1848), where the Rangers excelled, gaining nationwide fame. Despite his youth at the time, Hays is considered 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." Historian Walter Prescott Webb
wrote that "under his leadership, the best tradition of the Texas Rangers was established."
Hays married Susan Calvert in Seguin, Texas
, at the Magnolia Hotel in 1847.
When the news of Hays' plan to retire reached New Orleans, the Picayune of that city carried a long story concerning the "Retirement of Col. Hays" and commented: "The Gallant Hays, who has carried his life in his hand for the last ten years, and perhaps braved death oftener in that time than any other man - whose services in the field have been more ardent and valuable to Texas than those of any other citizen, is at length about to retire, and reposing his laurels, which he seems to wear unconsciously, so modest in his bearing, to seek in the bosom of his family the repose and enjoyment to which he is so well entitled."
Jack Hays is one of the most respected warriors of the Comanche tribe. Chief Buffalo Hump sent a gift to California which was a silver cup with the engraving " Buffalo Hump Jr " upon news of the birth of Jacks first son. A generous and extremely rare gesture for this era. The cup is located at the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum in Los Angeles. Donated by the Hays family of California.
In 1848, after the war had ended, Hays was selected to lead an expedition to blaze a route from San Antonio
to El Paso
. The expedition, which included Sam Maverick
and a team of Rangers, struggled through uncharted desert (as supplies ran out, the men were forced to eat their mules), and upon reaching Presidio
, the party returned to San Antonio.
In 1849 Hays received an appointment from the federal government as Indian agent for the Gila River
country. Later traveling to California
, Hays was elected sheriff
of San Francisco County in 1850. He also became active in politics, and was appointed United States surveyor general for California in 1853.
As he voyaged by the Golden Age, a letter to the Pacific Methodist, written aboard the steamer, told that : Col. Jack Hays, the remarkable Texan, is among the passengers destined to Washington city. He is a man of few words, easy of approach, without ostentation, reserved yet affable, and seems never to have known entirely to have forgotten that his love of country and intrepidity on its battle fields have made him an honorable part of its sparkling history....Like brave men, generally, he is ardently attached to his family...and speaks in respectful terms of the piety of his wife and the interests of Christianity.
Hays also was one of the founders of the city of Oakland
. In the following years he amassed a considerable fortune with real estate and ranching enterprises. In 1860 he was in Virginia City, Nevada
, on business, when news of the First Battle of Pyramid Lake
reached the area. He subsequently commanded a force of volunteer soldiers at the Second Battle of Pyramid Lake
. Hays was elected as a delegate to the Democratic national convention in 1876 which nominated Samuel J. Tilden
for the presidency of the United States
.
In, April 1870, Hays went East for a visit. The San Antonio Herald declared that "the name of Jack Hays will almost wake the dead." The Alamo City gave a grand ball at the famous Menger Hotel. Early in July accompanied by General Harry T Hays of New Orleans, his brother, he returned to California.
Anna McMullin and John Hays Jr. were married in San Francisco, combining two Texas Ranger legacies. Captain John McMullin was one of Jack Hays' closest friends and followed him to California. He was elected first Sheriff of Sacramento the same year Jack became first Sheriff of San Francisco 1850.
Hays died in California on San Jacinto Day
, April 21, 1883 and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. Hays County, Texas
is named in his honor.
Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
captain and military officer of the Republic of Texas
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...
. Hays served in several armed conflicts, including the Indian and the Mexican-American War.
Biography
Hays was born at Little Cedar Lick, Wilson County, TennesseeTennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. His father, Harmon Hays, was related to Andrew Jackson's wife, Rachel, and named his son for longtime family friend and Jackson protégé Col. John Coffee. His brother was Confederate General Harry T. Hays of New Orleans. His sister, Sarah Hays Lea, was the mother of John Hays Hammond
John Hays Hammond
John Hays Hammond was a famous mining engineer, diplomat, and philanthropist. Known as the man with the midas touch, he amassed a sizable fortune before the age of 40. An early advocate of deep-level mining, Hammond was given complete charge of Cecil Rhodes' mines in South Africa and made each...
. In 1836, Hays arrived in Texas. Sam Houston appointed him member of a company of Texas Rangers because he knew Jack's family from Tennessee. Because the social life of the neighborhood centered around General Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage
The Hermitage
The Hermitage is a historical plantation and museum located in Davidson County, Tennessee, USA, east of downtown Nashville. The plantation was owned by Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States, from 1804 until his death at the Hermitage in 1845. Jackson only lived at the property...
, the Hays boys heard a never-ending flow of talk of planting, horse racing, military affairs, and politics. No one can say how much Jackson, who was his great uncle, influenced the bright retentive mind of Jack, but he had heard much from him before reaching the age of twelve.
Captain Hays and the Texas Rangers
History of the Texas Ranger Division
The historical roots of today's Texas Ranger Division trace back to the first days of Anglo-American settlement of what is today the State of Texas, when it was part of the Province of Coahuila y Tejas belonging to the newly independent country of Mexico...
, were early adopters of the Colt revolver. The Colt Patterson No.5 Holster Model thus became known as the Texas Patterson. Texas Ranger Captains Hays and Samuel Hamilton Walker gave direct input to Samuel Colt
Samuel Colt
Samuel Colt was an American inventor and industrialist. He was the founder of Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company , and is widely credited with popularizing the revolver. Colt's innovative contributions to the weapons industry have been described by arms historian James E...
which lead to the development of Walker Colt
Walker Colt
The Colt Walker is a single action revolver with a revolving cylinder holding six charges of black powder behind six bullets. It was designed in 1846 as a collaboration between Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker and American firearms inventor Samuel Colt....
model of 1847 and the reestablishment of Colt Firearms.
In the following years, Hays led the Rangers on a campaign against the Comanche
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
and other hostile tribes, and succeeded in weakening their power. In 1840, allied Tonkawa Chief Placido with 13 scouts joined with the Rangers and tracked down a large Comanche war party, culminating at the Battle of Plum Creek. Later, he commanded the force against the invasion from Mexico of 1842
Battle of Salado Creek (1842)
The Battle of Salado Creek was a decisive engagement in 1842 which repulsed the final Mexican invasion of Texas. Colonel Mathew Caldwell of the Texas Rangers led just over 200 militiamen against an army of 1,600 Mexican Army troops and Cherokee warriors and defeated them outside of San Antonio de...
, and in the Mexican-American War (1846–1848), where the Rangers excelled, gaining nationwide fame. Despite his youth at the time, Hays is considered 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." Historian Walter Prescott Webb
Walter Prescott Webb
Walter Prescott Webb was a 20th century U.S. historian and author noted for his groundbreaking historical work on the American West. As president of the Texas State Historical Association, he launched the project that produced the Handbook of Texas...
wrote that "under his leadership, the best tradition of the Texas Rangers was established."
Hays married Susan Calvert in Seguin, Texas
Seguin, Texas
Seguin is a city in Guadalupe County, Texas, in the United States. It is part of the San Antonio-New Braunfels Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,011; the July 1, 2009 Census estimate, however, showed the population had increased to 26,842...
, at the Magnolia Hotel in 1847.
When the news of Hays' plan to retire reached New Orleans, the Picayune of that city carried a long story concerning the "Retirement of Col. Hays" and commented: "The Gallant Hays, who has carried his life in his hand for the last ten years, and perhaps braved death oftener in that time than any other man - whose services in the field have been more ardent and valuable to Texas than those of any other citizen, is at length about to retire, and reposing his laurels, which he seems to wear unconsciously, so modest in his bearing, to seek in the bosom of his family the repose and enjoyment to which he is so well entitled."
Jack Hays is one of the most respected warriors of the Comanche tribe. Chief Buffalo Hump sent a gift to California which was a silver cup with the engraving " Buffalo Hump Jr " upon news of the birth of Jacks first son. A generous and extremely rare gesture for this era. The cup is located at the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum in Los Angeles. Donated by the Hays family of California.
In 1848, after the war had ended, Hays was selected to lead an expedition to blaze a route from San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
to El Paso
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
. The expedition, which included Sam Maverick
Samuel Maverick
Samuel Augustus Maverick was a Texas lawyer, politician, land baron and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence...
and a team of Rangers, struggled through uncharted desert (as supplies ran out, the men were forced to eat their mules), and upon reaching Presidio
Presidio, Texas
Presidio is a city in Presidio County, Texas, United States. It stands on the Rio Grande , on the opposite side of the U.S.-Mexico border from Ojinaga, Chihuahua. The population was 4,167 at the 2000 census....
, the party returned to San Antonio.
In 1849 Hays received an appointment from the federal government as Indian agent for the Gila River
Gila River
The Gila River is a tributary of the Colorado River, 650 miles long, in the southwestern states of New Mexico and Arizona.-Description:...
country. Later traveling to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Hays was elected sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
of San Francisco County in 1850. He also became active in politics, and was appointed United States surveyor general for California in 1853.
As he voyaged by the Golden Age, a letter to the Pacific Methodist, written aboard the steamer, told that : Col. Jack Hays, the remarkable Texan, is among the passengers destined to Washington city. He is a man of few words, easy of approach, without ostentation, reserved yet affable, and seems never to have known entirely to have forgotten that his love of country and intrepidity on its battle fields have made him an honorable part of its sparkling history....Like brave men, generally, he is ardently attached to his family...and speaks in respectful terms of the piety of his wife and the interests of Christianity.
Hays also was one of the founders of the city of Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
. In the following years he amassed a considerable fortune with real estate and ranching enterprises. In 1860 he was in Virginia City, Nevada
Virginia City, Nevada
Virginia City is a census-designated place that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada. It is part of the Reno–Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 855 at the 2010 Census.- History :...
, on business, when news of the First Battle of Pyramid Lake
First Battle of Pyramid Lake
The First Battle of Pyramid Lake took placed in 1860 as one of the opening engagements of the Paiute War.-Background:In April 1860 Paiute leaders held a council to decide a course of action over the increased settler traffic along the California Trail and Pony Express. Chief Winnemucca tried to...
reached the area. He subsequently commanded a force of volunteer soldiers at the Second Battle of Pyramid Lake
Second Battle of Pyramid Lake
The Second Battle of Pyramid Lake took place in response to the U.S. defeat at the First Battle of Pyramid Lake. A well-organized force of militia and regulars, under the capable leadership of famed Texas Ranger Col. John C. “Jack” Hays, defeated the Paiute warriors under Chief Numaga...
. Hays was elected as a delegate to the Democratic national convention in 1876 which nominated Samuel J. Tilden
Samuel J. Tilden
Samuel Jones Tilden was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in the disputed election of 1876, one of the most controversial American elections of the 19th century. He was the 25th Governor of New York...
for the presidency of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
.
In, April 1870, Hays went East for a visit. The San Antonio Herald declared that "the name of Jack Hays will almost wake the dead." The Alamo City gave a grand ball at the famous Menger Hotel. Early in July accompanied by General Harry T Hays of New Orleans, his brother, he returned to California.
Anna McMullin and John Hays Jr. were married in San Francisco, combining two Texas Ranger legacies. Captain John McMullin was one of Jack Hays' closest friends and followed him to California. He was elected first Sheriff of Sacramento the same year Jack became first Sheriff of San Francisco 1850.
Hays died in California on San Jacinto Day
San Jacinto Day
San Jacinto Day is the celebration of the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. It was the final battle of the Texas Revolution where Texas won its independencefrom Mexico....
, April 21, 1883 and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. Hays County, Texas
Hays County, Texas
Hays County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2010, its official population had reached 157,107. It is named for John Coffee Hays, a Texas Ranger and Mexican-American War officer. The seat of the county is San Marcos....
is named in his honor.