Proud Outcast

Defying betrayal and hardship, Chato fights to save his family and his people’s rightful place in the West.

As the Apache Wars roar toward their conclusion in the summer of 1886, renowned Apache army scout and leader Chato joins a delegation of scouts to Washington, D.C., to meet President Grover Cleveland. Their mission? To plead their case for the Chiricahua scouts to remain at Fort Apache and cultivate their lands in peace.

For his unwavering loyalty and service, Chato is awarded a silver medal from Cleveland, along with the implied promise that the scouts can stay where they are. However, after Geronimo’s surrender, Chato and his fellow scouts are instead transported to the harsh confines of Fort Marion, Florida, as prisoners of war. They, and the Chiricahua people as a whole, will be deprived of their freedom and their way of life for the next three decades.

Finally freed in the wake of Geronimo’s death, the tribe returns to New Mexico to start over. But Geronimo’s longstanding assertion that Chato is a liar and traitor casts a long shadow. Shunned by the very people he has spent his life fighting for, Chato nevertheless remains defiant, his resilient spirit never wavering despite the heavy toll of his life’s trials.

Will Rogers Medallion-winning author W. Michael Farmer masterfully concludes Chato’s epic tale, illuminating the resilience of a leader determined to preserve his people’s heritage against overwhelming odds. Proud Outcast is a tale of honor, survival, and the relentless pursuit of a place to call home.