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Mary Fields
View on Wikipediafrom Wikipedia
Mary Fields (c. 1832 – December 5, 1914), also known as Stagecoach Mary and Black Mary, was an American mail carrier who was the first Black woman to be employed as a star route postwoman in the United States.[1][2][3][4]
Key Information
Fields had the star route contract for the delivery of U.S. mail from Cascade, Montana, to Saint Peter's Mission. She drove the route for two four-year contracts, from 1895 to 1899 and from 1899 to 1903. Author Miantae Metcalf McConnell provided documentation discovered during her research about Mary Fields to the United States Postal Service Archives Historian in 2006. This enabled the USPS to establish Mary Fields' contribution as the first African-American female star route mail carrier in the United States.[4]
Biography
[edit]Early life and career
[edit]Fields was born into slavery in Hickman County, Tennessee, c. 1832. After the American Civil War ended in 1865, she was emancipated and found work as a chambermaid on board the Robert E. Lee, a Mississippi River steamboat. There, she encountered Judge Edmund Dunne and ultimately worked in his household as a servant. After Dunne's wife died,[5] he sent Fields and his late wife's five children to live with his sister Mother Mary Amadeus in Toledo, Ohio where she was Mother Superior of an Ursuline convent.
In 1884, Mother Amadeus was sent to Montana Territory to establish a school for Native American girls at St. Peter's Mission, west of Cascade. Learning that Amadeus was stricken with pneumonia, Fields hurried to Montana to nurse her back to health. Amadeus recovered, and Fields stayed at St. Peter's. Fields took on multiple roles regarded as "men's work" at the time such as maintenance, repairs, fetching supplies, laundry, gardening, hauling freight, growing vegetables, tending chickens, and repairing buildings, and eventually became the forewoman.[6]
Native Americans called Fields "White Crow", because "she acts like a white person but has black skin". Life in a convent was placid, but Fields' hearty temperament and habitual profanity made the religious community uncomfortable. In 1894, after several complaints and an incident with a disgruntled male subordinate that involved gunplay,[2] the bishop barred her from the convent. Fields moved to Cascade where she opened a tavern, but profits waned due to allowing the cash-poor to dine free. It closed due to bankruptcy about 10 months later.[7]
Postal service
[edit]By 1895, at sixty years old, Fields secured a job as a Star Route Carrier which used a stagecoach to deliver mail in the unforgiving weather and rocky terrain of Montana, with the help of nearby Ursuline nuns, who relied on Mary for help at their mission.[8] This made her the first African-American woman to work for the U.S. Postal Service. She carried multiple firearms, most notably a .38 Smith & Wesson under her apron to protect herself and the mail from wolves, thieves and bandits, driving the route with horses and a mule named Moses. She never missed a day, and her reliability earned her the nickname "Stagecoach Mary" due to her preferred mode of transportation.[6][9] If the snow was too deep for her horses, Fields delivered the mail on snowshoes, carrying the sacks on her shoulders.[6] In one instance, she stayed up all night to fight off a pack of wolves who had knocked over her vehicle. And another time she was forced to walk back and forth until morning to avoid dying of frostbite, as she had gotten stuck in a blizzard. Mary Fields was resilient and dedicated to her work as a mail carrier.[10]
She was not an employee of the United States Post Office Department, which did not hire or employ mail carriers for star routes, but rather awarded star route contracts to persons who proposed the lowest qualified bids. These people, in accordance with the department's application process, posted bonds and sureties to substantiate their ability to finance the route. Once a contract was awarded, the contractor could then drive the route themselves, sublet the route, or hire an experienced driver. Some individuals obtained multiple star route contracts and conducted the operations as a business.[3]
Children
[edit]In contrast with her outwardly rough appearance and her drinking, smoking, and gun-wielding habits, Fields loved children. Though she never had her own, children adored her and parents in her area often hired her to babysit. From her life as an enslaved woman in Tennessee, to her later years in Montana when she offered her babysitting services for $1.50 a day, Mary Fields spent much of her life with kids. Though at times her rough and tumble reputation got in the way of this passion, as parents knew her as a rowdy saloon goer, and did not want their children under her care.[10]
Later life
[edit]She was a respected public figure in Cascade, and the town closed its schools to celebrate her birthday each year.[6] When Montana passed a law forbidding women to enter saloons, the mayor of Cascade granted her an exemption. In 1903, at the age of 71, Fields retired from star route mail carrier service. The townspeople's adoration for Fields was evident when her home was rebuilt by volunteers after it caught fire in 1912. She continued to babysit many Cascade children and owned and operated a laundry service from her home.[3][4]
Death
[edit]Fields died in 1914 at Columbus Hospital in Great Falls. She was buried outside of Cascade.[11]
Personal life
[edit]Fields was Catholic, though she preferred the company (and activities) of local men to the sisters and their religious trappings.[12]
Legacy and representations in popular culture
[edit]Films
[edit]- In the documentary South by Northwest, "Homesteaders" (1976), Fields is played by Esther Rolle.[13]
- In the TV movie The Cherokee Kid (1996), Fields is played by Dawnn Lewis.
- In the TV movie Hannah's Law (2012), she is played by Kimberly Elise.
- In the short Western film, They Die By Dawn (2013), Fields is played by Erykah Badu.
- In the film The Harder They Fall (2021), she is played by Zazie Beetz.
- In the film Outlaw Posse (2024), she is played by Whoopi Goldberg.
- In the TV series Hell On Wheels (2011), she was played by Amber Chardee Robinson.
- In 1959, actor and Montana native Gary Cooper wrote an article for EBONY in which he stated: "Born a slave somewhere in Tennessee, Mary lived to become one of the freest souls ever to draw a breath, or a .38."[14]
- "Stagecoach" Mary Fields, a screenplay by Georgianne Landy-Kordis[15]
- A biography for children, Fearless Mary: The True Adventures of Mary Fields, American Stagecoach Driver by Tami Charles[16]
- Stagecoach Mary, a collection of supernatural tales in pulp-fiction style by Jess Nevins[17]
- "The Life and Legend of Mary Fields", Source: Sunny Nash, Mother Amadeus and Stagecoach Mary True West Magazine, 1996, True West Publications, Cave Creek AZ.
- A biographical book, Mary Fields: The Story of Black Mary by James A. Franks. ISBN 0-9657173-4-8
Music
[edit]Fields is the subject of Michael Hearst's song "Stagecoach Mary", as part of his 2015 Extraordinary People project.[18]
Television
[edit]In the TV AMC series, "Hell On Wheels" (2011–2016), Fields is played by Amber Chardae Robinson, featured in five episodes during 2015–2016, season five.
Museums
[edit].jpg)
The Mary Fields Horse & Heritage Museum opened to the public in October 2025.[19] The museum, which is located in Hartford, Connecticut on the campus of the Ebony Horsewomen, Inc. Equestrian and Therapeutic Center, honors the legacy of Black Cowboys and Indigenous horsemen and women.[20]
Places
[edit]Asteroid 7091 Maryfields, discovered by Kenneth Lawrence and Eleanor Helin at Palomar in 1992, was named in her honor.[21] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 8 November 2019 (M.P.C. 118218).[22]
References
[edit]- ^ Shirley, Gayle C. (2011). More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Montana Women (2nd ed.). Guilford, Connecticut: Globe Pequot Press. ISBN 978-0-7627-6692-5.
- ^ a b Cooper, Gary; Crawford, Marc (October 1959). "Stagecoach Mary". EBONY (Reprinted Oct. 1977 ed.). Johnson Publishing Company. p. 98.
- ^ a b c Metcalf McConnell, Miantae (2016). "Mary Fields's Road to Freedom". Black Cowboys in the American West, On the Range, On the Stage, Behind the Badge. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 156. Archived from the original on 2019-09-02. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
- ^ a b c Metcalf McConnell, Miantae (2016). Deliverance Mary Fields, First African American Woman Star Route Mail Carrier in the United States: A Montana History. Huzzah Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9978770-0-7. Archived from the original on 2019-09-02. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
- ^ "History of San Antonio, Florida". sanantoniofla.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-02. Retrieved 2013-08-13.
- ^ a b c d Drewry, Jennifer M. (March–April 1999). "Mary Fields a pioneer in Cascade's past". Cascade Montana Community Website. Archived from the original on July 29, 2012. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
- ^ "Stagecoach Mary Fields | National Postal Museum". postalmuseum.si.edu. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
- ^ "Stagecoach Mary Fields | National Postal Museum". postalmuseum.si.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
- ^ "Mary Fields". Legends of America. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
- ^ a b Porath, Jason (2016). Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions & Heretics. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
- ^ Franks, James A. (2000). Mary Fields (Black Mary) (1st ed.). Santa Cruz, Calif.: Wild Goose Press. ISBN 0965717348.
- ^ Everett, George (1996-02-01). "Mary Fields, A Rough and Tough Black Female Pioneer". HistoryNet. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
- ^ South by Northwest. Washington State University. 1976. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
- ^ Cooper, Gary, as told to Marc Crawford (October 1977). Stagecoach Mary : A Gun-Toting Black Woman Delivered the Mail in Montana. Ebony.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Landy-Kordis, Georgianne (2016). "Stagecoach" Mary Fields : a screenplay. Oklahoma: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 9781530807734. OCLC 1011509713.
- ^ Charles, Tami (2019). Fearless Mary : Mary Fields, American stagecoach driver. Almon, Claire. Chicago, Illinois: Albert Whitman Company. ISBN 9780807523056. OCLC 1038041171.
- ^ Nevins, Jess (2017). Stagecoach Mary. [Houston]. ISBN 978-1-5393-5231-0. OCLC 986498043.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Hearst, Michael (19 October 2017). "Stagecoach Mary". Extraordinary People. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
- ^ "Grand Opening: Mary Fields Horse & Heritage Museum". Hartford Business Journal. New England Business Media. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
- ^ Dunne, Susan (Jul 17, 2023). "Museum to honor Black cowboys coming to Hartford". Hartford Courant (Online). Tribune Publishing Company, LLC. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
- ^ "7091 (1992 JA)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
- ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
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Mary Fields
View on Grokipediafrom Grokipedia
Mary Fields (c. 1832–1914), also known as Stagecoach Mary, was an African American woman who, after emancipation from slavery, relocated to Montana Territory and performed demanding manual labor for Ursuline nuns before securing a U.S. postal Star Route contract in 1895, becoming the first Black woman to deliver mail independently via wagon between Cascade and St. Peter's Mission through harsh frontier conditions for eight years.[1][2][3] Born into slavery in Tennessee around 1832, Fields gained freedom following the Civil War and worked on Mississippi River steamboats before joining Ursuline Sisters at St. Peter's Mission near Cascade, Montana, in 1885 to assist her friend Mother Amadeus Dunne with heavy tasks such as freighting supplies, gardening, and maintenance, earning praise for her strength and versatility from mission records.[4][1] Her tenure ended in 1894 after conflicts involving alcohol and a non-violent confrontation with a janitor, leading to her dismissal by church authorities, after which she briefly operated a restaurant in Cascade.[2][3] In her mail-carrying role, Fields demonstrated exceptional reliability, navigating approximately 34 miles of rugged terrain in all weather while armed for self-protection, a necessity in the sparsely populated region, though accounts of dramatic confrontations remain unverified and likely exaggerated in popular lore.[1][3] Contrary to the "Stagecoach Mary" moniker, which implies dramatic stagecoach operation, she used a standard wagon, and while known for her toughness, smoking, and occasional profanity—traits substantiated by contemporary observers—no primary evidence supports tales of lethal violence or bandit defeats.[2][4] After retiring around 1903, she sustained herself through laundry services, childcare, and community involvement in Cascade, including as a baseball team mascot, until her death on December 5, 1914, in nearby Great Falls.[1][3]
Early Life
Enslavement and Emancipation
Mary Fields was born into slavery in Tennessee around 1832, though her exact date and place of birth remain undocumented.[5] [1] Limited records from the era provide no details on her parents, enslavers, or specific conditions of her bondage during childhood and early adulthood, which was typical for enslaved individuals lacking formal documentation.[6] Fields remained enslaved until the end of the American Civil War, achieving emancipation with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment on December 6, 1865, which abolished slavery nationwide.[5] [7] This legal freedom marked the transition from a life of forced labor to autonomy, though post-emancipation challenges for formerly enslaved people, including economic instability and lack of resources, shaped her subsequent path.[2]Initial Post-Freedom Years and Association with Ursuline Sisters
After emancipation following the Civil War, Mary Fields traveled through the southern United States, securing work on steamboats navigating the Mississippi River.[5] She later migrated northward to Toledo, Ohio, in the late 1860s or early 1870s, where she found employment at the Ursuline Convent of the Sacred Heart.[1][7] In Toledo, Fields undertook physically demanding roles as a caretaker, groundskeeper, and general laborer for the Ursuline Sisters, including maintenance of the convent grounds and handling heavy tasks that male workers often avoided.[1][7] She resided at the convent, which provided her with independent lodging—a rarity for former enslaved women—and fostered a personal bond with Mother Amadeus Dunne, the convent's superior, who valued Fields' reliability and strength.[2] This association marked a stable phase in Fields' post-freedom life, contrasting the itinerancy of her immediate emancipation years, though records of her precise arrival date in Ohio remain approximate due to sparse documentation from the era.[3]Montana Frontier Career
Labor at St. Peter's Mission
Mary Fields arrived at St. Peter's Mission, a remote Ursuline-operated boarding school for Native American girls west of Cascade, Montana, in March 1885, accompanying the sisters to assist in its establishment and operations.[2][4] As the mission's primary laborer—initially its sole helper without additional cooks or staff—Fields performed essential manual tasks to sustain the isolated outpost, often handling physically demanding work typically assigned to men, including wearing male attire for practicality.[2][5] Her duties encompassed hauling freight and supplies from Cascade's railroad and stage stops, initially via a one-horse, two-wheeled cart and later a larger wagon, which involved transporting both goods and people over challenging terrain.[2][4][1] Fields also cultivated a large vegetable garden, raised chickens, and hunted, trapped, and fished to provide food for the staff and students, ensuring self-sufficiency amid Montana's harsh frontier conditions.[2][4][5] Additional responsibilities included maintenance and repair of mission structures, laundry services, and coordinating supply deliveries, all of which underscored her indispensable role in the daily functioning of the facility.[1][4] Fields resided in a small cabin on the mission grounds and declined monetary payment, granting her flexibility to come and go as needed while prioritizing the nuns' needs.[2][5] She continued this labor for approximately nine years, until mid-1894.[2][4]Conflicts Leading to Dismissal
Mary Fields' tenure at St. Peter's Mission concluded in July 1894 when the local bishop ordered her dismissal amid reports of her being overbearing and troublesome toward other workers.[2] Ursuline annals document a specific dispute with a ranch foreman or hired hand over issues such as pay or a harness, but record no escalation to violence.[2] The bishop's intervention, attributed to Bishop Jean-Baptiste Brondel of Helena, stemmed from Fields' tendency to swear, smoke, and bicker with mission hired hands, behaviors that clashed with the institution's expectations despite her value to the nuns in labor-intensive tasks.[4] The Ursulines defended Fields and valued her contributions to operations like gardening and supply hauling, but complied with the order, leading to her relocation to nearby Cascade.[2][4] Later accounts, including those from the National Postal Museum, describe a confrontation with a mission janitor where both parties drew but did not fire guns, presented as the precipitating incident, alongside Fields' drinking and saloon visits with men.[1] However, Ursuline records, as primary documentation, do not corroborate gunplay or such habits as factors in the dismissal, suggesting these elements may derive from unverified frontier lore rather than mission archives.[2] Rumors circulating in Cascade around this period, possibly including claims of a duel, further influenced clerical oversight.[5]Star Route Mail Delivery Contract
In 1895, at approximately 63 years old, Mary Fields obtained a Star Route mail delivery contract from the United States Post Office Department, making her one of the earliest women and the first Black woman to serve as an independent mail carrier in Montana.[1][5] Star Routes were fixed-price contracts awarded to private carriers for transporting mail along post roads not serviced by railroads, requiring bidders to provide their own stagecoaches, horses, and security.[1] Fields underbid competitors for the route connecting the town of Cascade to St. Peter's Mission, a distance of about 15 miles through rugged terrain prone to banditry, wildlife, and severe weather.[4][8] Fields operated a Concord-style stagecoach pulled by a team of six horses, departing Cascade around 5 a.m. daily except Sundays to ensure timely delivery, often navigating snow, rain, and isolation without fail.[1][5] She carried a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver and a 10-gauge shotgun for protection against threats, earning her the nickname "Stagecoach Mary" for her dependability and armed vigilance.[1] The contract spanned eight years, covering two four-year terms from 1895 to 1903, during which she maintained an impeccable record of never missing a scheduled run due to weather or other obstacles.[1] This service provided her primary income, supplementing her laundry business in Cascade, and solidified her reputation as a frontier pioneer.[8]Additional Business Endeavors
Following her retirement from the Star Route mail contract around 1903, Fields established a laundry business from her home in Cascade, Montana, which she operated until her later years.[1][3] The enterprise catered to local residents, reflecting her continued self-reliance in the frontier community despite her age of approximately 71 at the time.[1] Earlier, prior to securing the mail route in 1895, Fields had attempted a restaurant venture in Cascade, supported by Mother Mary Amadeus Dunne.[2][9] The establishment operated for about one year but failed, reportedly due to Fields extending credit and free meals to impoverished homesteaders and travelers, leading to financial insolvency.[2][10] This episode underscored her generous disposition amid the economic hardships of the region, though it did not yield sustained success.[11]Character and Reputation
Physical Traits and Lifestyle
Mary Fields exhibited a sturdy, broad build that supported her capacity for strenuous labor, including hauling freight and managing stagecoaches across rugged Montana terrain. Contemporary photographs portray her as a robust woman of substantial presence, while her 1912 voter registration documented a height of 5 feet 9 inches, countering later exaggerations claiming she stood 6 feet tall or weighed 200 pounds.[2][1] Fields adopted a pragmatic lifestyle reflective of frontier demands and personal disposition. She routinely carried firearms for self-defense, concealing a pistol in her skirt pocket and posing with rifles in images, which underscored her readiness against threats during mail routes and travels. Her habits included smoking cigars and consuming whiskey, often in saloons alongside men, fostering a reputation for unyielding resolve amid her professional endeavors. Attire consisted primarily of skirts for daily wear, supplemented by men's jackets or coats for practicality in harsh conditions and heavy work, diverging from stereotypical feminine norms yet aligned with functional needs.[1][2][4]Notable Incidents and Arrests
In 1894, while employed at St. Peter's Mission, Fields faced complaints regarding her conduct, culminating in a confrontation with a white man who refused to follow her instructions, struck her, and reached for his weapon; Fields responded by drawing her pistol and firing at him, with no injuries reported, leading to her dismissal from mission duties.[12] This incident, drawn from secondary historical accounts, contributed to her reputation for quick-tempered self-defense in frontier disputes, though primary records such as Ursuline annals provide no corroboration of the shooting itself.[2] No verified arrests or legal convictions appear in contemporaneous documents, census data, or Montana Historical Society files for Fields, despite her documented practice of openly carrying firearms—a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver and a 10-gauge shotgun—and engaging in behaviors like heavy drinking and brawling that drew local notoriety.[2] [13] Accounts of further altercations, such as pursuing non-paying customers with threats or involvement in saloon fights, circulate in popular retellings but lack substantiation from reliable primary sources, aligning with patterns of frontier exaggeration around her persona.[2]Decline and Death
Retirement and Final Years
Mary Fields retired from her Star Route mail carrier position in 1903 at approximately age 71, after eight years of service.[1][3] She relocated to Cascade, Montana, where she established a laundry business operated from her home, providing a means of livelihood in her later years.[1][5] Fields also took on informal roles in the community, including babysitting local children, which supplemented her income and maintained her ties to Cascade residents.[7] In her final years, Fields continued to embody her independent spirit, though advancing age limited her physical labors. She resided modestly in Cascade until health declined, leading to her admission to Columbus Hospital in Great Falls, Montana.[2] Fields died there on December 5, 1914, at about age 82, reportedly from complications including edema.[2][14] Her passing marked the end of a frontier life defined by resilience and self-reliance.[4]Burial and Immediate Aftermath
Mary Fields died on December 5, 1914, at Columbus Hospital in Great Falls, Montana, at the age of 82, succumbing to liver failure.[15] Her body was returned to Cascade, where residents organized a funeral service at the Pastime Theatre, the town's largest venue, reflecting her prominence in the community.[2] Following the service on December 7, 1914, Cascade townspeople collectively raised funds to cover burial costs, ensuring interment at Hillside Cemetery along a route Fields had frequently traveled during her mail-carrying years.[1] Neighbors handled the burial arrangements, placing her grave under a simple wooden cross, later replaced by a stone marker inscribed "Mary Fields, 1832–1914."[15] This communal effort underscored the respect Fields had earned despite her unconventional lifestyle, as local accounts noted widespread mourning among Cascade's residents, who viewed her as a foundational figure in the town's history.[3]Historical Verification
Confirmed Facts and Achievements
Mary Fields secured a Star Route contract with the United States Post Office Department in 1895, becoming the first known African American woman to serve as an independent mail carrier.[5] [1] She delivered mail between Cascade, Montana, and St. Peter's Mission, spanning approximately 15 miles, for eight years until her retirement around 1903, maintaining perfect reliability without missing a single delivery amid Montana's harsh winters and rugged terrain.[5] [4] From 1885 onward, Fields supported the Ursuline Sisters at St. Peter's Mission by handling demanding physical tasks, including gardening, managing chickens and livestock, and transporting supplies via wagon, which aided the mission's operations and the establishment of an Indian boarding school.[2] [5] These contributions stemmed from her arrival in Montana to assist Mother Mary Amadeus Dunne, following prior service at the Ursuline convent in Toledo, Ohio.[4] Post-retirement, Fields operated a laundry service and provided childcare in Cascade, where she resided as the sole African American from 1886 until her death on December 5, 1914, at age 82.[2] Her postal tenure, verified through Post Office records and convent annals, underscores her self-reliance and endurance in a frontier environment marked by racial and gender barriers.[1] [5]