burning down the town of Kozelsk. For his achievements in that war, in which he advanced to a porucznik rank in the light "cossack" cavalry unit under hetman Marcin Kazanowski, he received some land in the Smolensk Voivodeship near Starodub. After that war, he moved to a more prestigious hussar unit (rota), and likely due to a reduction of the royal army, he served in the private formation of Władysław Myszkowski and later, voivode Stanisław Lubomirski. In 1635 he might have served as a military adviser to John II Casimir Vasa, and possibly accompanied the king to Vienna. In 1637 he married Zofia Kobierzycka, and later that year he fought in the Pawluk Uprising against the rebellious Cossacks under Pavel Mikhnovych, participating in the battle of Kumejki. He led a cavalry charge at Kumejki which was instrumental in the Polish victory there. Earlier that year he served as a military delegate to the Sejm (parliament) in Warsaw. Struggles against the Cossacks For the next several years he would serve on the hostility-plagued south-eastern border, where he made his home in the city of Illńce. In 1644 under Koniecpolski he took part in the battle of Ochmatów where Commonwealth forces dealt a crushing defeat to Toğay bey's (Tuhaj Bej) Tatars. He served as one of seven pułkowniks in Koniecpolski's army, and once again his cavalry unit charge proved to be a decisive moment of the battle, bringing him much fame. That year he also became a regimentarz in his own light cavalry unit, but he still held the rank of a porucznik of hussars. He took an active part in the battles against the Cossacks in the Khmelnytsky Uprising. On 16 May 1648 he was one of the many noble Polish prisoners who fell into the hands of Bohdan Khmelnytsky at the battle of Zhovti Vody, but he was quickly ransomed. He participated in the defense of the Kudak Fortress, which surrendered on 26 September; he was once again captured and not released until the autumn of 1649, in the aftermath of the Treaty of Zboriv. He served as a porucznik in the hussar chorągiew of hetman Mikołaj Potocki, a military judge deputized by the hetman, and a member of his staff, meeting with the new king of Poland, John Casimir Vasa. He was part of the fighting at the battle of Berestechko and battle of Bila Tserkva in 1651. He