Mary Fields: A Fighter

Mary Fields (a.k.a.  “Black Mary”), a former Tennessee slave, was independent, belligerent, six-feet tall, and a fighter.

She moved to Cascade, Montana, when she was in her fifties and there she made her name.  Mary was the second woman ever to drive a US mail coach.

She also hauled freight. With a cigar in her mouth, a rifle by her side, and whiskey nearby, she drove eight horses, pulling two heavy wagons at once.

Throughout her long and adventurous life, she fought wolves, shot a man who insulted her, and was the only woman to be permitted to drink in the town’s saloon.

She also had a warm side.  In fact, her restaurant, which she owned later in life, went belly-up because she couldn’t help feeding poverty-stricken travelers.  By the time Mary died, at a ripe old age, the town of Cascade so revered her that it closed its public schools on Mary’s birthday.

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