[8] Russian general Matvei Platov had eight Cossack regiments and two Don batteries deployed south of the village of Mir, when one brigade of the Polish Fourth Light Cavalry attacked his advance posts, numbering about 100 men.

These advance posts had the dual job of both observation and sentry duty, and to entice the enemy to attack; ambushes of a hundred men each were set up farther down the road to Mir, on either side of it.

[9] The Polish general Alexander Rosniecki's forces clashed with Russian Dmitry Vasilchikov's cavalry, resulting in hand-to-hand combat with fairly even losses.

[10] After the arrival of Vasilchikov's Akhtyrka Hussars, Dragoons, and other reinforcements, the battle raged for six hours, shifting to the nearby village of Simiakovo.

[10] The town of Mir and fort ruins were used as a headquarters by Jérôme Bonaparte, until he decided on the 16th to leave the army, after quarrels with Vandamme, Davout and with his older brother.