By Cherranda Smith
In 1895,
She was hired because she was the fastest at hitching a team of six horses. She drove her route with horses and a mule named Moses.
Standing at impressive six feet tall, Mary was born into slavery in 1832 in Tennessee. She was known for wearing men’s clothes, smoking, drinking and shooting guns. Before becoming mail carrier, she worked for 10 years at a convent, but her lifestyle led to her being kicked out of the mission.
As a star carrier in Cascade, Montana, her job was to protect the mail on her route from thieves and bandits and to deliver mail. She was only the second woman in the United States to serve in that role.