Hays, John C.

Born: 1817-01-28 Wilson County, Tennessee

Died: 1883-04-21 California

Hays was a Texas Ranger who served as a colonel of multiple regiments of mounted Texas volunteers during the Mexican War. Following the war, Hays received appointment as Indian agent for the Gila River territory and then moved to California. In 1850 he was elected sheriff of San Francisco County and in 1853 he was appointed the surveyor general for California. A prominent Democrat in California politics, he remained neutral during the Civil War.

Wm. Hugh Robarts, Mexican War Veterans: A Complete Roster of the Regular and Volunteer Troops in the War Between the United States and Mexico, from 1846 to 1848 (Washington, DC: Brentano's, 1887), 74, 76, 77; Cadmus M. Wilcox, History of the Mexican War (Washington, DC: Church News, 1892), 518, 526; Harold J. Weiss, Jr., "Hays, John Coffee," Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association, accessed August 8, 2019, https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fhabq.