Background
John Hays was born on January 28, 1817, at Little Cedar Lick, Tennessee, United States, the son of Elizabeth Cage, of Virginian origin, and Harmon Hays, a Tennessee volunteer under Jackson.
John Hays was born on January 28, 1817, at Little Cedar Lick, Tennessee, United States, the son of Elizabeth Cage, of Virginian origin, and Harmon Hays, a Tennessee volunteer under Jackson.
John Hays began surveying at the age of fifteen. He worked in Mississippi four years, later surveyed many of the Texas headrights, and finally served one term as surveyor-general of California. His chief claim to distinction, however, rests upon his military service under the Republic of Texas and in the Mexican War. One of the volunteers who went to Texas to help in the Revolution, he arrived shortly after the battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836.
He enlisted in the army and served about four years on the frontier against hostile Mexicans and Indians under two scouts, Henry W. Karnes and Erastus (“Deaf”) Smith. In 1840, the Ranger forces, light-armed cavalry first used in 1836, were enlarged, and despite his youth Hays was made captain of one of the new companies. He served on the frontier in the region between the Rio Grande and the Nueces and for gallantry in action was promoted to major.
Although Hays was not commanding in physiflue, he held the respect and allegiance of his Rangers through his natural superiority and his genuine interest in them. Young, daring, good horsemen, good marksmen, good fighters, fast moving as Indians and better armed, the Rangers coped for the most part successfully with superior numbers of hostile Indians and Mexicans and contributed largely in pushing back the frontier and making possible the permanent settlement of Texas. Hays served practically throughout the Mexican War, most of the time as colonel of a regiment of Texas volunteer cavalry, and won especial distinction at the battle of Monterey.
After bis discharge in 1848, Hays led an important though Partly unsuccessful expedition in search of a new San Antonio-Chihuahua trade route. He then emigrated to California, where he was elected sheriff of San Francisco County because of his military reputation.
Reelected in 1851, he served until 1853, when he resigned to accept President Pierce’s appointment as surveyor-general of California. After this, his last public office, he went into real-estate business, acquiring valuable property in the “Eastbay” region. An invalid in his later years, he died at “Fernwood, ” his home, near Piedmont, Alameda County.
In 1876, Hays was elected as a delegate to the Democratic Party national convention, which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for the presidency of the United States.
John Hays was married in Texas, in 1847, to Susan Calvert, a native of Alabama. Of their six children only two lived to maturity.
