Battle of Pyliavtsi Battle of Pyliavtsi ( ; ) ; September 23 , 1648 ) was the third significant battle of the Khmelnytsky Uprising . Near the site of the present - day village of Pyliava , which at that time belonged to the Kingdom of Poland , and now lies in south - central Ukraine , Polish - Lithuanian Commonwealth forces met a numerically superior force of Cossacks and Crimean Tatars under the command of Bohdan Khmelnytsky and Tugay Bey . The Commonwealth forces were dealt a third consecutive defeat . Before the battle . At the beginning of the Khmelnytsky uprising in the early months of 1648 , Polish forces tried to suppress it but suffered two defeats at the battle of Zhovti Vody and Korsun . This was followed by the death of king Władysław IV on 20 May N . S . and Chancellor Jerzy Ossolinski called for a congress of notables in Warsaw on 9 June , at which Zaslawski , Ostrorog and Koniecpolski were designated provisional commanders , and Adam Kysil was instructed to enter into negotiations with Khmelnytsky . By 27 June , the Bratslav region , Volhynia and the southern Kyiv region were engulfed by the uprising , Khmelnytsky had halted at Bila Tserkva , Tughay Bey foraged with his horde , and the khan had returned to the Crimea with two hundred thousand captives . By August , Kysil ' s commission had failed and this period of truce was coming to an end . The Polish army organized in Galicia , headed by the unpopular triumverate of Crown commissioners : Władysław Dominik Zasławski , Mikolaj Ostroróg , and Aleksander Koniecpolski , were all famously derided by Khmelnytsky as a " peryna " ( the feather - down bed ) , " latyna " ( the Latinist ) and " dytyna " ( the child ) , respectively . Zaslawski ' s army marched to Zbarazh on 16 August O . S . in the footsteps of another Polish army organized around Jeremi Wisniowiecki , who had been stationed in southern Volhynia " following the battles at Starokostiantyniv " . These armies merged on 1 September O . S . at Chovhanskyi Kamin . Khmelnytsky was " sationed at the time with his army on the fields of Pyliavtsi southeast of Starokostiantyniv " . An advance regiment commanded by Koniecpolski and Ostrorog crossed the Ikopot River at Rosolivtsi on 6 Sept . O . S . and encountered a Cossack garrison near Starokostiantyniv , who overnight abandoned the town to the Polish army . Yet , rather than " establishing themselves in . . this mighty fortress . . . they set out to take " Khmelnytsky ' s position at Pyliavtsi , convinced " he would do anything to avoid a battle " while awaiting the arrival of the Tatars . On 8 Sept . O . S . , Polish cavalry troops under the command of Mykola Zatsyvilkovsky approached the Cossack positions at Pyliavtsi , driving a Cossack reconnaissance patrol from the field , allowing the Polish army to camp on the Ikva opposite Khmelnytsky . The battle . Following several days of minor battles , Khmelnytsky led his army on the morning of 13 September O . S . shouting " For the faith , brave warriors , for the faith ! " , killing many Polish cavalrymen as they fled back across the Ikva . That night , the Polish commanders decided to retreat in corral formation to Starokostiantyniv , but while preparing for this retreat the next day , they would hold their position and fight under Wisniowiecki ' s command . However , " rumours began curculating among the troops . . . that the commanders had abandoned the camp and taken flight . . . and fear was turned into wholesale panic " . " Everyone else began to flee , leaving behind wagons , cannon , and all kind of supplies . . . only the sick and maimed . . . remained " , not stopping at Starokostiantyniv , Koniecpolski went to Brody , Ostrorog to Olesko , Zaslawski to Vyshnivets . Aftermath . The Poles left behind an " immense , unheard - of booty " , including a hundred thousand loaded wagons , and the " Cossacks then threw themselves , completely unarmed , . . . into looting the camp " , which " significantly weakened the victor ' s desire to launch a pursuit . " Even the " Tatar Horde , arriving after the rout . . . paid no attention to taking prisoners . . . but applied themselves to keeping the assorted booty " . A few days later , Khmelnytsky seized Zbaraż , " the residence of the Cossack ' s greatest enemy , Jeremi Wiśniowiecki " , continued on to siege Lwów from 28 September until 15 October O . S . , leaving after that city paid 500 , 000 zlotys worth of " money , metal , goods , and supplies " ( 330 , 000 went the Tatars ) . He then laid siege to Zamość on 27 October until 22 November O . S . , before receiving 20 , 000 zlotys . The Polish Diet convened 26 September O . S . ( 6 October N . S . ) and elected Jeremi Wisniowiecki as Crown Hetman , Andrzej Firlej as Field Hetman , and John II Casimir Vasa as king on 17 Nov . , who sent Jakub Smiarowski to ask Khmelnytsky to withdraw " to the usual places " . Khmelnytsky departed Zamość on 24 November , the king confirmed Khmelnytsky as hetman in December and Khmelnytsky entered Kiev before Christmas .