Mary Fields was born a slave in Tennessee. She was emancipated at the end of the war. She first found work as a chamber maid on a steamboat on the Mississippi River. She then worked for Judge Edmund Dunne. After Dunne's wife died he sent Mary and his five children to live with his sister Mother Mary Amadeus Mother Superior of the Ursuline Convent. Mother Amadeus was sent to Montana, and Mary followed when she learned she had pneumonia. She nursed her back to health, but her ways were a bit rough for the Catholic mission (swearing and going to saloons etc) so she was asked to leave. She opened a tavern, but went out of business within a year as she gave too much away. In 1895, at the age of 60 she won the contract for a star route with the U.S. post office. Although a contracted employee, she is the second woman and first African American woman to have such a position. She is very diligent in her job. She preferred to drive a stage, with a gun under her robe. If there was too much snow, she had snow shoes and would carry the mail on her back. Mary was a large woman, six feet and 200 pounds. One time she held off a pack of wolves who had caused her to turn her coach. However she was able to right it the next day. Mary did not marry. However she loved babysitting and would often be paid to babysit. She retired from the mail service after eight years. In 1912 her home burned, but the townspeople helped her rebuild. Michael Hearst wrote a song of her life, "Stage Coach Mary."
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