The Life Of "Stagecoach Mary" Fields

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"Stagecoach Mary" Fields. 1832-1914.

At the reins. Mary on her stagecoach.

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FROM 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.

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.

Biography

Early life and career ~

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, 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.

A young Mary Fields and the Steamboat, Robert E. Lee.

Judge Edmund Dunne and Sister Mother Mary Amadeus.

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.

Mary Fields in her garden in back of her cabin.

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, 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.

Postal service ~

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. 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. If the snow was too deep for her horses, Fields delivered the mail on snowshoes, carrying the sacks on her shoulders. 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.

Mary Fields and her mule, Moses in a carriage in a photograph from the Ursuline Archives, Great Falls, Montana.

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.

Children ~

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.

Later life ~

She was a respected public figure in Cascade, and the town closed its schools to celebrate her birthday each year. When Montana passed a law forbidding women to enter saloons, the mayor of Cascade granted her an exemption. In 1903, at age 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.

Fields’ laundry in Cascade before it was destroyed by fire.

Death ~

Fields died in 1914 at Columbus Hospital in Great Falls. She was buried outside of Cascade.

Personal life ~

Fields was Catholic, though she preferred the company (and activities) of local men to the sisters and their religious trappings.

Legacy and representations in popular culture

Films ~

In the documentary South by Northwest, "Homesteaders" (1976), Fields is played by Esther Rolle.

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.

Television ~

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.

Print ~

In 1959, actor and Montana native Gary Cooper wrote an article for EBONY in which he wrote, "Born a slave somewhere in Tennessee, Mary lived to become one of the freest souls ever to draw a breath, or a .38."

"Stagecoach" Mary Fields, a screenplay by Georgianne Landy-Kordis.

A biography for children, Fearless Mary: The True Adventures of Mary Fields, American Stagecoach Driver by Tami Charles.

Stagecoach Mary, a collection of supernatural tales in pulp-fiction style by Jess Nevins.

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 ~

Fields is the subject of Michael Hearst's song "Stagecoach Mary", as part of his 2015 Extraordinary People project.

Places ~

Asteroid 7091 Maryfields, discovered by Kenneth Lawrence and Eleanor Helin at Palomar in 1992, was named in her honor. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 8 November 2019 (M.P.C. 118218).

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FROM: Find A Grave

A Black gun-toting female in the American Wild west. She was six feet tall, heavy, tough, short-tempered, two-fisted, powerful, and packed a pair of six-shooters and an eight or ten-gauge shotgun. A legend in her own time, she was also known as STAGECOACH MARY. She lived by her wits and her strength. She traveled north to Ohio, settled in Toledo and worked for the Catholic convent. She formed a strong bond with Mother Amadeus. When the nuns moved to Montana and Mary learned of Mother Amadeus' failing health, she went west to help out. Having nursed Mother Amadeus back to health, she decided to stay and help build the St. Peter's mission school. She protected the nuns. In 1895, she landed a job carrying the United States Mail for the Cascade County region of central Montana. She and her mule Moses, never missed a day, and it was in this capacity that she earned her nickname of "Stagecoach Mary", for her unfailing reliability. She died in 1914 of a failure of her liver. Neighbors buried her in the Hillside Cemetery in Cascade, marking the spot with a simple wooden cross which may still exist today.∼African-American Pioneer. Fields was born a slave and was freed when slavery was outlawed in the United States, in 1865. She then worked in the home of Judge Edmund Dunne. When Dunne's wife Josephine died in 1883, in San Antonio, Florida, Fields took the family's five children to their aunt, Mother Mary Amadeus, the mother superior of an Ursuline convent in Toledo, Ohio. 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, hauling freight, doing laundry, growing vegetables, tending chickens, and repairing buildings, and eventually became the forewoman. The Native Americans called Fields "White Crow", because "she acts like a white woman but has black skin". Local whites did not know what to make of her. One schoolgirl wrote an essay saying, "She drinks whiskey, and she swears, and she is a republican, which makes her a low, foul creature." In 1894, after several complaints and an incident with a disgruntled male subordinate that involved gunplay, the bishop ordered her to leave the convent. Mother Amadeus helped her open a restaurant in nearby Cascade. Fields would serve food to anyone, whether they could pay or not, and the restaurant went broke in about 10 months. In 1895, although approximately 63 years old, she was hired as a mail carrier because she was the fastest applicant to hitch a team of six horses. Fields was the first African-American female star route mail carrier in the United States and the second woman in the U.S. and first African-American woman to work for the U.S. Postal Service. Fields drove the route with horses and a mule named Moses. She never missed a day, and her reliability earned her the nickname "Stagecoach". If the snow was too deep for her horses, Fields delivered the mail on snowshoes, carrying the sacks on her shoulders. She was a respected public figure in Cascade, Montana and the town closed its schools to celebrate her birthday each year. When Montana passed a law forbidding women to enter saloons, the mayor of Cascade granted Fields an exemption. In 1903, at age 71, she retired from star route mail carrier service. Fields continued to babysit many Cascade children and owned and operated a laundry service from her home. She died in 1914 at Columbus Hospital in Great Falls, Montana but was buried outside Cascade, Montana. ∼ Bio courtesy of Family Seeker.

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The Cascade Courier, volume 4, page 1. Cascade, Montana · Friday, January 31, 1913 ~

As 'Twas Then as "Tis now

I can't refrain from mentioning a few of the familiar faces and places. I was by no means surprised to see that familiar character, Mary Fields, who, 'twas s said, could, pick a fly off the tip of the leader's ears with a four-horse lash when driving, driving the stage on the star route from here to the Mission. (I failed to ascertain whether Mary has had a birthday since I left here or not. Anyway she, in appearance, has not changed an iota.)

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Great Falls Tribune, page 6. Great Falls, Montana · Thursday, April 03, 1913 ~

Mary Fields Celebrates Her 83rd Birthday at Her Home in Cascade

Mary Fields of Cascade has had another birthday. The date of the anniversary was March 15th and Mary has long since passed the day when she blushes -about - which birthday it ...was. This was her 83rd one and she's proud of everyone of them. Mary Fields has become to Cascade what the "Cradle of Liberty" has to Philadelphia or Fimucil Hall has to Boston. She is a sort of landmark.

Of course in her case, the use of the word landmark has to be figurative. But Mary Fields is truly a historic character about the business center of Chestnut Valley. Those who came early to the Valley recall that Mary was there when they arrived. Those who came later became acquainted with Mary, and the latest generation has known her since birth. In fact everyone knows Mary Fields. Mary is a lady of color,' the shade being that of Ham.

Mary has been in Montana many years no matter how many. She came to this section from the central portion of the United States and during, the latter part of the last century, she drove a stage between Cascade and St. Peter's Mission. Mary could drive. She could use a four-horse lash with a dexterity that made a man green with envy and she also could use a six-shooter with equal accuracy. There was a time when Mary's friends claimed if a fly lighted on the car of one of the leaders of her four she could use her choice of either shooting it off or picking ott with her whip and that if she was in a mind to, she could break the fly's hind leg with her whiplash and then shoot its eye out with revolver This accuracy with whip and shooting iron, however, is not a matter of Mary's boast. She always was modest about her claims as to either line.

Mary in the heyday of her career in the Chestnut Valley, was given to the use of tobacco and still is. Then too, she also was given to taking a little "nip"' of Kentucky bourbon or its kindred spirits at times but in these later days, Mary has put the ban on the bourbon family and all of its relation and confines her libations to milk and aqua pura. In the milk line she includes both sweet milk and buttermilk, in the latter class having the illustrious example of one vice president, as it will be remembered that the Hoosier statesman, Charles Warran Fairbanks, was not averse to a buttermilk cocktail and added immensely to his fame under the title of "Buttermilk Charlie."

Mary, in recent years, has been leading a simple life. She still wears a man's coat and a man' hat but unlike Dr. Anna Shaw she draws the line on the trousers. She even refuses to jump into the divided skirt but retains that evidence of her sex. the skirt of the olden days.

She does laundry work as a means of gaining a part of her living and does that as she drove coach and four, very well. In the summertime, Mary shows that her esthetic nature still lives for she cultivates a bed of flowers ami her favorite flower is the pansy. No one has prettier pansies than Mary Fields and no one is happier -in having the flowers than she. Her neighbors get much pleasure from Mary's flowers and not a few of them have been delighted to be presented with a pretty "bouquet with Mary's good wishes to boot.

Mary is a basketball fan. She belongs in that category of fans that believe an umpire who presumes to make a decision against the home team is a fit subject for the gallows, or some other dire fate, like that.

She would even essay the task of "licking the umpire herself if she thought that would help ring victory 'to the home boys. "Mary is some fan and all the baseball contingent of Cascade will swear to that.

Mary came to the Chestnut Valley in the pioneer days. She is truly a pioneer and is known far and wide.

Her 83rd birthday- was made an event in the town of Cascade and neat ribbon badges were printed and circulated bearing this information: Mary Fields 1830-1913 83rd Birthday Anniversary March 15th.

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Great Falls Tribune, page 12. Great Falls, Montana · Tuesday, December 01, 1914 ~

MARY FIELDS NEAR DEATH

Well Known Negro Woman of Cascade Brought to Hospital , in Critical Condition.

Mary Fields of Cascade, for more than a third of a century a resident of that town and believed. to be the pioneer Colored woman of the Chestnut valley, is a patient at the Columbus hospital to where she was taken yesterday Mayor and Mrs. D.W. Monroe, her condition being reported as critical. She is nearly 85 years old and in addition to the infirmities of old age, she is troubled With a severe case of dropsy.

Mary Fields has long been one of the characters of the Cascade country. She was a slave in her youth and because of that fact she was brought up to know more about a man's work than those with which women are generally familiar. She could handle a coach and four and shoot a rifle with great accuracy in her active years. For the last year or two she has been declining and for the past four weeks she has been in a bad condition. It finally came to a point where it seemed but a matter of a few days until death must claim her and the acquaintances of years decided to see that the last days be made as pleasant for Mary as possible. Accordingly, Mayor Munroe arranged to bring her to the hospital and accompanied by Mrs. Munroe, he got Mary to come with him yesterday and she is now receiving constant care at the hospital.

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The Anaconda Standard, page 14. Anaconda, Montana · Wednesday, December 02, 1914 ~

GREAT FALLS NEWS

Mary Fields, colored, of Cascade, probably the best-known and most eccentric character of that section, is in a local hospital, believed to be dying, from dropsy. She is 85 years old and has resided in that locality about 34 years. Mary was a slave in her youth and had done a man's work for many years. She always wore men's apparel, smoked cigars, and could drink whiskey with any of them.

She was handy with a rifle and for years drove a stage between Cascade and St. Peter's mission.

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Great Falls Tribune, page 7. Great Falls, Montana · Sunday, December 06, 1914 ~

MARY FIELDS PASSES AWAY

Colored Woman, Long a Resident of Cascade, Dies at Columbus Hospital.

Mary Field of Cascade, a well-known pioneer resident, colored woman of Cascade County, died last evening at the Columbus Hospital. The body was removed to O'Connor's undertaking parlors and the funeral arrangements will be announced later. The body will probably be forwarded to Cascade for burial. She was 82 years old.

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Great Falls Tribune, page 5. Great Falls, Montana · Monday, December 07, 1914 ~

The body of Mary Fields will be forwarded to Cascade tomorrow on train 237 by T. F. O'Connor for burial. Interment will be in Hillside Cemetery, near Cascade.

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The Great Falls Leader, page 6. Great Falls, Montana · Monday, December 07, 1914 ~

Deaths and Funerals

The body of Mary Fields, who died Saturday evening, at the Columbus hospital, has been removed to O'Conners and will be forwarded to Cascade tomorrow for burial in the Hillside Cemetery near that place.

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Great Falls Tribune, page 7. Great Falls, Montana · Tuesday, December 08, 1914 ~

BODY TO BE SHIPPED

The body of Mary Fields, a well-known pioneer resident of Cascade, will be forwarded by Undertaker Thomas F. O'Connor on train 237 today at noon to Cascade, for burial. Mr. O'Connor will accompany the body to that place. The funeral will be held at Cascade this afternoon at 2:30.

Burial will be in Hillside Cemetery. Rev. Fr. Deneen will hold services at OConnor's chapel at 10 o'clock.

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Great Falls Tribune, page 9. Great Falls, Montana · Wednesday, December 09, 1914 ~

GREAT CROWD AT FIELDS FUNERAL

The body of Mary Fields, the well-known pioneer woman of Cascade was forwarded by Undertaker Thomas F. O'Connor to that place yesterday at noon on train 237. Mr. O'Connor accompanied the body to Cascade and looked after the details of the funeral. Upon arrival there, the body was removed to the new Cascade Opera House where a large number of friends and acquaintances paid their last tributes of respect.

The funeral services were held at 3:30. Rev. Fr. John J. Casey of St. Peters Mission conducted the services which were very largely attended. The casket was hidden from view by floral tributes. Mrs. Arthur McCullum rendered several hymns and Miss Mamie McDonald was the accompanist. The bearers were F.N. Askew, J. H. Jones, D. W. Monroe, James Travis, Walter McKay and R. B. Glover. The body was laid to rest in Hillside Cemetery. Rev. Fr. Casey conducted the committal service. The funeral was one of the largest ever held in Cascade.

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The Cascade Echo, page 1. Cascade, Montana · Thursday, December 10, 1914 ~

DEATH OF MARY FIELDS

On Sunday last, at the Columbus Hospital in Great Falls, occurred the death of Mary Fields at the age of 84 years, another of Cascade's pioneer residents. "Mary" (as she was familiarly known) had been a part of this community for more than 30 years, coming from the Land of the Sunny South by steamboat from St. Louis to Fort Benton in company with a Catholic Sister, whom we understand is now in the hospital in which Mary breathed her last. It seems that Mary had been before the war a slave in this family and was the nurse of the one remaining member after the war who is now Sister Mary Agnes and who came to the West in Mary's care. For many years Mary made her home at St. Peter's Mission, acting as stage driver carrying the mail and passengers to and from between that point and the village of St. Clair, which now is Cascade. It is said of her that it was her chief delight to make glad and merry the hearts of the little folks, and while at the Mission it was her wont to take the children out on the hills there to view the beauty of God's handiwork; and enjoy themselves to the utmost and rest assured that Mary never failed to have secreted about her person the necessary lunch to make every picnic complete. In later years. while she resided among us, each year as her birthday rolled around she would be hoarding every penny to give the children a treat in one way or another sometimes taking them out near the Butte, which lies just above our city, there telling them stories and legends of long ago and giving them an hour or so of great pleasure.

Never did a service of her church held in this community lack in the beauty of blooming Nature so long as Mary was able to go about gathering the choicest flowers with which to strew the altar. She had been failing for months| past but scarcely ever did we hear one word of complaint; at last she became unable to leave her cottage, as a complication of asthma and dropses set in and only those who were with her and visited her know what suffering she endured, and how bravely she struggled to keep up the Old Routine of Life. As it was impossible to give her the necessary care here, it was decided to remove her to the Columbus Hospital at the Falls, where in only a few days she succumbed to the Inveitable and answered the call of her God. The funeral was conducted from the Menth Hall on Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 o'clock, and many were the friends and neighbors who gathered to pay homage to her who was one of the most loyal citizens. Father Casey of St. Peters Mission had charge of the ceremonies. Mrs. A. R. McCollim rendered three beautiful selections in song, accompanied by Miss Mayme McDonald.

The bearers were J. H. Jones, F. N. Askew, James Travis, R.B. Glover, D. W. Munroe and J. W. McKay. Interment was made in Hillside Cemetery.