Captain Jack: The Story of John Coffee Hays

by Gene Shelton

Jack Hays led from the front. He was the man who set the standard for Texas Rangers for decades to come. He wasn’t a big man – five foot six, a hundred thirty pounds – but to the men he led into battle, he was a giant.John Coffee Hays, native Tennessean and surveyor by trade, came to the Texas frontier when the region was still part of Mexico. He stayed through the era of the Republic and eventual statehood, riding with men like Sam Walker, Ben McCulloch, and Bigfoot Wallace, all of whom became legends in Texas history.He freely admitted he wasn’t a crack shot with handgun or rifle. But in brutal battles against Comanche raiders, Anglo and Mexican bandits, and later against highly trained armies during the Mexican War, he was a born leader and military tactician, admired by his men and feared by his enemies.During the war with Mexico, he was commissioned a colonel in the U.S. Army. But to the men he led, he was always “Captain Jack” – because to Texas Rangers, “captain” was the highest of all titles and honors.

243 pages, Paperback

Published September 12, 2020

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rough cut heroes

Well, I've finally read a western in which the Colt Walker Dragoon is the correct handgun. In fact, both the Walker and the Colt Patterson are leading "characters" in the story.

Mr. Shelton did not have to strain to make Captain Hays and his fellow Rangers sympathetic to readers. Despite political correctness the rangers were real heroes who served Texas, the United States, the Confederate States, their families and their countrymen with dedication and courage.

A well written, entertaining fictionalized account of Captain Hays, Texas and the Rangers.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable dramatization of the history and exploits of Hays, Texas Rangers, and the war with Mexico. Hays was by all reports an incredible leader and fighter.

Shelton does a good job of highlighting Hays and his fighting methods, especially the influence of the Colt on the Indian Wars.

This isn't a detractor, since the author doesn't pretend to be recounting perfect history, but there are some big oversights in the events leading up to the Council House Massacre and Buffalo Hump's raid of Linnville et al, unfair to the Comanches.

[Joanne N. Dorsett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A GREAT WESTERN BOOK!

This Great Western Book Is The Best Account Of Our Texas Rangers And The Mexican Wars! If You Like ACTION Then You Will Have It From Page One Thru The Last Page! This Book Is Worth Your Time To Read And Sure Worth The Price! ENJOY THIS READ!

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I finished reading S.C Gwynne's excellent Empire of the Summer Moon, I was eager to learn more about some of the topics he just touched on. One of those was the origin of the Texas Rangers and the career of one of their earliest leaders, surveyor-turned-frontier Fighter John Coffee Hays, also known as "Captain Jack" Hayes. This is the first book I landed on.

I was a little disappointed at first because it turns out this book is fiction, or maybe I should say a fictionalized account of the historical facts from his life. My disappointment was lessened, however, as I read along and determined that so many episode in this book tracked with what I had read in Gwynne's book and online. This gave me confidence that what I was reading was a pretty good stand-in for a traditional biography.

The author, Gene Shelton, has the bona fides to write a story like this, being a journalist from the Texas panhandle who has done his share of rodeo and other "real West" stuff in his life. I'm still going to look for a more standard biography of Hays—I almost said "more scholarly" but that would do a great disservice to the amount of research Shelton obviously put into this story—but readers wanting to get an authentic feel for the life of the Rangers in the 1840s, having to fend off the Comanches and invasions by Mexico long enough for Texas to establish a toehold, will not only enjoy the story here but learn quite a bit as well.

[Richard Zimmelman]

Learned so much

I'd not known previously about the history of the Republic of Texas or how prominent Texas was in the United States expansion to the Pacific. Of course one must read this book with the understanding of is from a proud American point of view. Fast moving book and easy read. America still has the greatness of these Texas Rangers.

[Sam Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely well written

Great history about the Texas Rangers, a story not often told. A story about bravery, love of country, long lost forgotten. A story about hard men willing to fight for what they believed in. When men were men.
Rock on

[Jeff O'Byrne · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHAT A STORY!

Checks well with Webb et al. Dialog adds much to the story. Illustrates Bingham’s premise of culture’s advance by improvement in ability to project death from a distance.

[Chuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mildly disappointed this was a work of historical fiction. Well written telling the story of Capt Jack Coffee Hayes, one of the original legendary Texas Rangers.