The first rifles of the Revolution fell on the road leading from Patras to Tripolitsa. Within a month, the conflicts were generalized throughout the Peloponnese, proving that the “morologies” of Grigorio Dikai finally took hold in the souls of the enslaved Greeks. “We immediately took out those Asian luxury clothes, bras, furs, caps and put on the zarouchias and the tragokapan”, wrote the priest from Lagadia Gortynias Kanellos Deligiannis wishing to show the transition to the era of the Struggle for Independence. His example was followed by many of the heads of power in the Peloponnese, such as Petros Mavromichalis, who removed the title of bey of Mani from his name.
After the liberation of Kalamata, on March 23, 1821, the brother of Petros Mavromichalis, Kyriakoulis, was put in charge of a body of Maniats and headed towards Vardounohoria, an area where many Muslims lived, who, as soon as they heard about the outbreak of the Greek Revolution, fled to Tripolitsa fearing for their lives. Theodoros Kolokotronis moved north towards Gortynia, where he met with the Deliyannai, powerful dignitaries of the region.
There the Old Man of Moria took over the leadership of the bodies of the area, following the proposal of Kanellos Deligiannis, who, despite his several disagreements with Kolokotronis, recognized his great military experience. In April, Kolokotronis put into action his plan for the siege of the administrative center of the Peloponnese, Tripolitsa. Gradually, Greek military forces began to camp in close proximity to the city, blocking the main exit routes from it.
Over time, the success of Kolokotronis’ plan began to become apparent, as several thousand Muslims gathered in Tripolitsa and the other major fortress cities of the Peloponnese. The capture of the administrative center of the Peloponnese by the Greeks had great symbolic as well as military value. Wishing to prevent this eventuality, Hursit Pasha sent from Ioannina, where he had participated in operations to suppress Ali Pasha’s rebellion, aid in men and munitions. Led by Mustafabei, some 3,500 Ottoman soldiers entered the Peloponnese, broke the sieges of Acrocorinth and Nafplion, and on May 6 passed the gates of Tripolitsa to aid in its defense.
The arrival of Mustafabei’s men offered significant help to the Ottomans who were almost piled up inside the walls of Tripolitsa. A few days later, Mustafabeis attempted to surprise the Greek besiegers of the city by attacking one of their camps, in Valtetsi. Demonstrating deceptive maneuvers in various places where the Greeks were encamped, Mustafabeis concentrated his attack on May 12 at Valtetsi, which was guarded by Kyriakoulis and Ilias Mavromichalis with their Maniates and Mitropetrovas with his Messinian fighters. The Turkovardunites, who had always had competitive relations with the Maniates, also participated in the attack.
By noon, Mustafabei’s men managed to surround the Greek fighters inside Valtetsi. A little later, however, when Kolokotronis and the other chieftains, such as Plaputas, Papatsonis, Kephalas and Giatrakos, came to help, the situation changed to the detriment of the Ottomans. The Greeks formed a second cordon around that of Mustafabei’s men, who found themselves between two fires. When night fell, Mustafabei’s soldiers were showing signs of fatigue, while the Greek forces were constantly being reinforced from the surrounding areas.
At dawn on May 13, the Ottoman bayraktars gave the signal to retreat to the city. During their retreat, the Ottomans were attacked by Nikitaras’ men. In their panic, Mustafabei’s men abandoned their valuable weapons. The pursuit, however, did not continue to the city walls for fear of an attack by the Ottoman cavalry.
The battle at Valtetsi was the first major victory of the Greek arms in the Peloponnese. It raised the morale of the Greeks and proved how difficult a task it was to break the cordon of the besiegers outside Tripolitsa. In addition, the armament of the Greeks was strengthened with the weapons that the Ottomans abandoned on the battlefield.
Column editor: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigoni-Despina Poimenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis
