Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Lokacin da Leoncio Prado ke da shekaru 26, yaƙin da Chile ya ɓarke a 1879, wanda ake kira War of Pacific, don haka matashin jami'in ya koma Peru don kare ƙasarsa. Ya shiga cikin Sojojin Ruwa kuma daga baya a cikin Sojojin. Da farko, an ba shi amanar shirya jiragen ruwa na torpedo wanda zai yi aiki a tsibirin Alacrán a tashar jiragen ruwa na Arica a kan sojojin ruwa na Chile. Daga baya, ya haɗu da Sojojin Kudancin a 1880, an ba shi izinin kafa rundunar soja wanda ya shiga cikin yakin Tacna.
A watan Mayu. Bayan shan kashi na Peruvian a wannan yaƙin, ya jagoranci yakin basasa a kusa da Tacna, har sai 'yan Chile suka kama shi a Tatara a watan Yuli. Amma sai aka sake shi a kan yanayin da ba zai sake yin yaƙi ba, wanda bai bi ba. Daga baya ya shiga cikin yakin Sierra, ya mutu ba da daɗewa ba bayan Yaƙin Huamachuco a 1883.