Who was stagecoach Mary?
The real 'Stagecoach Mary' story:
Mary Fields, Black Mary, and 'Stagecoach Mary' are all one of the
same person. Mary was born in 1832, a slave in Tennessee and was
owned by a Catholic family; the father was a businessman and Judge
who had a single girl child the same age as Mary. Mary's mother was
the House Slave Servant and the judge's favorite cook; therefore
Mary was always in the main house, in the kitchen and not in the
fields, as a Field Slave. Mary's father was a Field Slave, and
Field Slaves were not allowed in the Main House, much less, to
court a House Slave. Mary's mother became pregnant by Mary's father
and he was beaten and sold to another plantation for getting Mary's
mother pregnant. After Mary's birth, Mary's mother and her were
allowed to stay in the main house, and Mary became the Judge's
daughters' playmate, therefore being the Judge's daughter's
playmate, Mary was allowed to read and write, a rarity for that
time.
After the emancipation and coming into adulthood, Mary was 6 feet
tall and weighed over 200 pounds. Mary became her own woman and
traveled solely from Tennessee, up and down the Mississippi River,
to Ohio, then finally to Montana where she got her nickname at the
turn of the 20th Century. She earned this nickname by working for
"Wells Fargo" delivering the United States Mail through adverse
conditions that would have discouraged the most hardened
frontiersmen of her time. 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 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 Mary's credentials given to her, her credentials
boasted that, "She would knockout any man with one punch", a claim
which she proved true.
Her fame was so acclaimed, even the Actor, Gary Cooper, two time
Academy Award Winner, told a story about her in 1959 which appeared
in Ebony Magazine that same year. While, Annie Oakley and Martha
Canary (Calamity Jane) were creating their history with Buffalo
Bill, Stagecoach Mary was making "her Epic Journey!"
Despite Mary's hardness, she had another side of her, a kindness
so strong, even today, in the beginning of the 21st Century, the
town of Cascade, Montana, and other surrounding communities
celebrate her birthday. The Epic movie is in pre-production mode.
Check out website at http://www.stagecoachmary.net