James K. Greer

Jack Hays cut quite an extraordinary figure. Reportedly, he fought more than forty engagements against the Comanches and bandits, rarely took on fewer than ten Indians at once, often many more, and led a company of Texas Rangers while still a teenager.

According to those who served with Hays, he was an unprepossessing man, "a stripling of few words, whose quiet demeanor stretched quite to the verge of modesty," yet an absolute demon in battle. He was born in 1817. His great-uncle was Andrew Jackson, from whom he heard numerous tales of the war that his father had fought in as a second lieutenant under his father's famous brother-in-law. By age fifteen, Jack was earning substantial wages as a surveyor, but the fall of the Alamo aroused his native patriotism, and he left for Texas after purchasing pistols and a horse. Shortly thereafter, he had his first barroom brawl, in which he shot a bully who thought the Jack was ripe for taunting. He continued surveying in Texas -- it was not uncommon for soldiers and Rangers to combine the two professions -- and he had several nasty encounters with Comanches who resented the surveyors. He rapidly developed a reputation among both settlers and Indians as an intrepid and brave fighter.

Many of his skills were learned from an Indian friend, Flacco, chief of the Lipan tribe, who taught him many tracking techniques and the lore of the desert Indian tribes. He was also friendly with Delaware Indians. On one occasion, he and a group of Delawares ran for two days to catch up to a band of Comanches who had killed one of their party. The Delawares ran in a sort of dogtrot that allowed them to run without stopping. Hays was ready to give up after a couple of miles, but pride prevented it, and he discovered that after a while his body took over and he could continue beyond what he thought was his point of exhaustion.

In 1840, Hays was given a formal commission as captain of Rangers to recruit a company. He set a high standard. Besides good marksmanship, character, and horsemanship, the recruit had to provide his own weapons and own a horse worth at least one hundred dollars. The government was supposed to provide rations and ammunition, but often they had to use what they could confiscate from the bandits they ran to ground. They wore Mexican sombreros as headgear; these looked cumbersome, but provided efficient protection against sun and weather. It was not an easy life; the mortality rate among Rangers was over fifty percent. Despite the hardships, the men enjoyed practical jokes. There was the time when "Gator" Davis -- so named because he relished wrestling alligators from the river up onto the bank -- and Hays discovered two bear cubs. Gator thought one would make an excellent present for a lady friend, so Hays agreed to climb the tree where the cubs had scrambled and shake the branch for Gator to catch one of the cubs as it fell. Hays knew something about a small bear's ability to defend itself, and after he tired of watching Gator's futile attempts to subdue the small animal, he rapped it lightly on the head with his pistol butt. They then tied the unconscious bear cub to the back of Gator's saddle. Now, horses are not known for their friendliness toward bears, and "Bally," Gator's horse, was no exception. He tolerated it as long as the cub remained senseless, but when the bear woke up and began biting his hindquarters, Bally began bucking in earnest, much to Hays's amusement, Finally, Gator was thrown and the horse took off, never to be seen again.

Hays's men were quite successful defending the communities against the Comanches. He was so feared by them for his reckless ferocity that he would often venture into their territory completely alone, yet remain unattacked, Flacco once explained this to several visiting chiefs. "Me and Blue Wing [a companion:] no afraid to go to hell together. Captain Yack, great brave, no afraid to go to hell by hisself.” After the Mexican War, Hays moved to California where he became an important rancher and real estate developer - he founded Oakland - and retired to his Alameda ranch in 1870. He died in 1883 at the age of sixty-six.… (mais)