Mary Fields (1832–1914), also known as Stagecoach Mary and Black Mary, was the first African-American female route mail carrier in the United States. An imposing figure, she stood over 6′ feet tall and weighed over 200 pounds of muscle. She was an expert shot with a revolver and shotgun. Whites labeled her as “black as a burnt-over prairie”. She usually had a pistol strapped under her apron and a jug of whiskey by her side. 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.”

She was known for having “the temperament of a grizzly bear”, loved to drink hard liquor, and smoke a good cigar. After two failed attempts at running a restaurant, Fields secured a contract to deliver mail to St. Peter’s Mission. She earned the nickname “Stagecoach Mary” for her reliability and speed, and she drove the fifteen-mile route between the mission and Cascade from 1895 to 1903.

Mary Fields, an ardent baseball fan, gave flowers from her garden to each Cascade player who hit a home run. Mary stands at the right with a streamer in one hand and a cigar in the other in a team photo.

In many ways, Fields transcended the traditional gender boundaries for women of the era. She neither married, nor depended on the support of the church. Because she was a large woman, she wore men’s shirts and jackets. She also socialized with men at the baseball field and in the saloon. In a 1959 issue of Ebony, Montana-born film star Gary Cooper reminisced that Fields “could whip any two men in the territory” and had a fondness for hard liquor that was matched only by her capacity to put it away.