This is the story of Mary Fields, 'Stagecoach Mary', who got her nickname at the turn of the 20th Century. She earned this nickname by working for the United States Postal System delivering the United States Mail through adverse conditions that would have discouraged the most hardened frontiersmen of that period. All by herself, she never missed a day for 8 years, carrying the U. S. Mail and other important documents that helped settle the wild open territory of central west Montana. Mary had no fear of man, nor beast, and this sometimes got her into trouble. She delivered the mail regardless of the heat of the day, cold of night, wind, rain, sleet, snow, blizzards, Indians and Outlaws. Mary was 6 feet tall, and weighed over 200 pounds, and even with 'those' extraordinary extremes, there were two more facts that made 'her' history. Mary was the second woman in 'history' to carry the U. S. Mail, however, even that was a matter of simplicity, for a fact, she was a Negro Woman, and the only 'Negro', for hundreds and hundreds of miles when she first arrived in Montana. This feature story covers Mary's colorful life, from the plantation where she was born a slave in 1832, to the famous Steamboat race between the "Robert E. Lee" and the "Natchez" on the Mississippi River, to her death in Cascade, Montana, 1914. Stagecoach Mary was a cigar smoking, shotgun and pistol toting Negro Woman, who even frequented saloons drinking whiskey with the men, a privilege only given to 'her', as a woman. However, not even this fact, sealed the credentials given to her, her credentials boasted that, 'she could knock out any man with one punch', who stepped upon her womanhood, a claim she proved true. keywords: Mary Fields, Mail, African American, Black History, Montana, Stagecoach, Outlaws, Cowboys, Postal System, Historical, 1914, 1832

1885-1914. Mary Fields, a fifty-three-year old second-generation slave, emancipated and residing in Toledo, receives news of her friend's impending death. Remedies packed in her satchel, Mary rushes to board the Northern Pacific. She arrives in the Montana wilderness to find Mother Mary Amadeus lying on frozen earth in a broken-down cabin. Certain that the cloister of frostbit Ursuline nuns and their students, Indian girls rescued from nearby reservations, will not survive without assistance, Mary decides to stay.She builds a hennery, makes repairs to living quarters, cares for stock, and treks into the mountains to provide food. Brushes with death do not deter her. Mary drives a horse and wagon through perilous terrain and blizzards to improve the lives of missionaries, homesteaders and Indians and, in the process, her own.After weathering wolf attacks, wagon crashes and treacherous conspiracies by scoundrels, local politicians and the state's first Catholic bishop, Mary Fields creates another daring plan. An avid patriot, she is determined to register for the vote. The price is high. Will she manifest her personal vision of independence?MCCONNELL'S RESEARCH enabled USPS to verify Mary Fields as the first African American woman star route mail carrier in the U.S. A chronicle of Fields' life in Montana from 1885 until her death in 1914, the narrative examines women rights, bootleg politics, Montana's turn-of-the-century transition from territory to state and its scandalous 1914 woman suffrage election.SHORT-LISTED 2015 LARAMIE AWARDMcConnell fashioned a historical narrative marrying prose and poetry, fact with creative writing. With the discerning eye of a photographer, the deft hand of a historian, and the literary heart of a poet, the life of Mary Fields, legendary black woman of Montana, rises off the page into living history. If the reader has any interest in Mary Fields, aka Stagecoach Mary, Deliverance is the one book you must read.--Cowboy Mike Searles, Author, Professor of History, Augusta University, GA.A great story and history of Mary Fields, an important back westerner. A must read for youths and adults. --Bruce A. Glasrud, Author, Professor, California State University.

A meticulously documented look at a lesser-known aspect of African-American history is based on the personal writings of the explorers, cowboys, settlers, and soldiers of pioneer America. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

The brave pioneers who made a life on the frontier were not only male—and they were not only white. The story of African-American women in the Old West is one that has largely gone untold--until now. The story of ten African-American women is reconstructed from historic documents found in century-old archives. The ten remarkable women in African American Women of the Old West were all born before 1900, some were slaves, some were free, and some lived both ways during their lifetime. Among them were laundresses, freedom advocates, journalists, educators, midwives, business proprietors, religious converts, philanthropists, mail and freight haulers, and civil and social activists.

Recounts the life of the first African American woman to carry the United States mail

"The true story of Mary Fields, aka "Stagecoach Mary," a trailblazing African American woman who helped settle the American West."--Provided by the Publisher

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