Ozharovsky played a prominent part in the Patriotic War of 1812. An admirer of the military theories of Ernst von Pfuel, he was put in charge of the camp of Russian forces near the Drissa River. At Tarutino and Maloyaroslavets, Ozharovsky commanded a separate corps of Cossacks and peasant militia. His "flying column" was stationed at Krasnoi, when the Imperial Guard attacked the town and succeeded in ousting Ozharovsky from it.