Audiobook: Captain Jack Hays: Adventures of John Coffee Hays

In 1913, history writer Charles Haven Ladd Johnston (1877-1943) would publish the book "Famous Frontiersmen and Heroes of the Border," which included a chapter on John Coffee Hays. It is this 40-page chapter on Hays that has been republished here for the convenience of the reader interested in Hays, who may not wish to read the entire lengthy book.

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.