He was shot, stabbed, and pierced by arrows—20 wounds in all. Then, in 1844, left for dead on a bloodied battlefield, Cicero Rufus Perry did the unthinkable: he walked 120 miles alone through hostile land to survive. Born in Alabama in 1822, Perry moved to Texas at 11 and quickly found himself in the heart of violent conflicts—fighting in the siege of Bexar, skirmishing along Yegua Creek, and battling Native tribes as a Texas Ranger. His wounds tell a story of relentless grit, but that 120-mile trek stands as a testament to a willpower few could imagine.
It wasn’t just a miraculous escape; it was survival at its rawest. Perry, bleeding and unarmed, without food or water, staggered through rugged terrain from Uvalde to San Antonio, refusing to give up when even his comrades thought he was gone. But his story didn’t end there. Years later, Perry continued to fight, surviving battles like Deer Creek in 1873. Rising through the ranks, he became Captain of Company D, leading men who admired him for his unyielding spirit and battlefield skill. His life was a quiet legend—known not for wealth or fame, but for resilience that inspired those who rode beside him.
By the time he died in 1898, in the rugged Texas Hill Country, Perry’s name had become a whispered legend among Rangers. Yet outside of history’s dusty pages, how many know his story? How many can imagine walking that brutal 120 miles—wounded, alone, and desperate—for the mere chance to live? Cicero Perry’s journey makes us ask: what would you have done if left for dead?