John (Jack) Coffee Hays life would make for a great movie or miniseries, perhaps along the lines of Wayne's The Shootist.
Hays's, 1817 to 1883 witnessed the old west and the sunrising over the new west. Born in Tennessee and migrating to Texas at the age of 19, with a letter of recommendation from his great uncle Andrew Jackson he met with Samuel Huston, who himself was an old family friend, John accepted a commission to the newly formed Texas Rangers.
Hays led Rangers in it's mission to end the Comanche raids, riding with a Lipan Chief named Flacco the duo made a formable team, in 1840 the Tonkawa Chief Placido and 13 scouts joined with the Rangers to track down a large Comanche war party, this led to the Battle of Plum Creek.
Hays distinguished himself in the Battle of Monterrey, Galaxara Pass, Matamoros and Sequalteplan, during the Mexican War.
John Jack Hays married Susan Calvert in 1847, she was George Calvert, the 1st Baron Baltimore. The couple moved to California and became a politician, and a sheriff, upon the birth of their first son Chief Buffalo Hump of The Comanche sent the couple a silver cup engraved "Buffalo Hump Jr."
Captain John McMullin another legendary Texas Ranger had followed his friend John Hays west to California, and as fate would have it, McMullin's daughter and Hays, son John Caperton Hays married.
This is where the Old West and the New West and the world we live in today merge;
John Hays had a brother, CSA Br. Gen. Harry Thompson Hays, and a sister;
Sarah "Sallie" Hays Hammond, her grandson John Hays Hammond Jr. was an apprentice to Thomas Edison and worked with Nikola Tesla and became a founder of and a board member of RCA!