 Ilija, as the more experienced, was named "serdar" in 1648 after his father, serdar Petar Smiljanić had died.In 1648, when the Ottoman army took their village, the "Mitrovići" and 70 other Žegar families settled in the small village of Budin near Posedarje, under Venetian control.In January 1654, with 100 horsemen and 150 other soldiers prevented Ottoman's destruction of Posedarje for which was rewarded by the authorities.