By 1813, the rebels were teetering on the edge of defeat, and eventually the nine-year uprising was crushed. Most of the rebels fled across the Sava into the Austrian Empire and Višnjić followed them there. After several years in a refugee camp, in 1815, he settled in the village of Grk, near Šid, in the region of Syrmia. Višnjić was living in Grk with his family when he became acquainted with the linguist and folklorist Vuk Karadžić, who wished to write down and preserve Višnjić's poetry. Karadžić convinced Višnjić to visit him at the Šišatovac Monastery, at Fruška Gora, where the latter played the "gusle" and recited his poetry while the former took note. Shortly thereafter, Karadžić left Fruška Gora and made his way to Vienna, where he had Višnjić's epic poems published. These appeared in the volume "Narodna srbska pjesnarica" (Songs of the Serbian People).