Why is John Coffee Hays considered the most famous Texas Ranger of the 19th century?
From February 1927 to May 1927 local historian John Marvin Hunter (1880-1957) serially published chapters of the book "Jack Hays, the Intrepid Texas Ranger," in the magazine Frontier Times, which were based on first-hand accounts of those who served with Hays in the Texas Rangers. It is this 1927 book of 130 pages that has been republished here in complete book form for the convenience of the interested reader.
John Coffee Hays (1817-1883) was a famous captain in the Texas Rangers and a military officer of the Republic of Texas. Hays served in several armed conflicts from 1836-1848, including against the Comanche people in Texas and during the Mexican-American War. Hays later joined the migration to California, leading a party of a party of Forty Niners from New York that traveled in wagons to California from Texas. Hays was elected sheriff of San Francisco County in 1850.
Hays emigrated in 1837 to San Antonio. Here he had several severe skirmishes with the Indians and was engaged as surveyor on the frontier. In those times of peril, when Texas needed the assistance of every soldier, Hays could not long remain unnoticed. He was first created captain of a scouting party, and soon after superintendent of the entire border, with the rank of major. Desperate, and sometimes personal encounters with the Indians, soon spread his reputation, and before the commencement of our war with Mexico, he was regarded by the Indians as superior to common men-the bearer of a charmed life.
