Kostas Botsaris

Kostas (Kitsos) Botsaris (Κώστας (Κίτσος) Μπότσαρης, Costa Bozzari, c. 1792–1853), also known as Constantine Botzaris, was a Greek general and senator and a Souliot captain and a hero of the War of Greek Independence. He fought at the Battle of Karpenisi and completed the victory of his brother, the renowned Markos Botsaris.

Early life
Kosta Botsaris was born in 1792 as the son of captain Kitsos Botsaris into one of the leading clans of the Souliotes, in Epirus. The Botsaris clan came from the village of Dragani (today Ambelia), near Paramythia.

Greek War of Independence
In 1803 Kostas Botsaris and the remnants of the Souliotes crossed over to the Ionian Islands, where they ultimately took service in a French regiment. In 1814, he joined the Greek patriotic society known as the Filiki Eteria. On the night of 21 August 1823 Kostas, under the leadership of his brother Markos participated in the celebrated attack on Karpenisi by 350 Souliots, against around 1000 Ottoman troops who formed the vanguard of the army with which Mustai Pasha was advancing to reinforce the besiegers. The Souliotes were victorious, however his brother was fatally wounded in the attack.

Later life
After the death of his brother Markos Botsaris, Kostas lived on to become a respected Greek general and parliamentarian in the Greek Kingdom. Fifteen years after the death of his brother, the American traveller and author Mr. John Lloyd Stephens visited Kostas Botsaris, then a colonel in the service of King Otto of Greece in Missolonghi, and described him as:

A man of about fifty years of age, of middle height and spare build, who, immediately after the formal introduction, expressed his gratitude as a Greek for the services rendered his country by America; and added, with sparkling eye and flushed cheek, that when the Greek revolutionary flag sailed into the port of Napoli di Romania, among hundreds of vessels of all nations, an American captain was the first to recognize and salute it.

Botsaris continued to serve in the Greek kingdom until his death in Athens on 13 November 1853.