Stamos Kapsas

Stamatios Kapsas Σταμάτιος Κάψας
Born	Pazarakia (now Kryopigi, Chalkidiki, Greece)
Died	10 June 1821 Vasilika, Thessaloniki (now Greece)

The Stamatios (Stamos) Kapsas (Greek: Σταμάτιος or Στάμος Κάψας), known as Kapetan Chapsas (καπετάν Χάψας) was a chieftain of the Greek Revolution of 1821 from Chalkidiki.

Stamatios Kapsas was born in the village of Pazarakia (now Kryopigi, Chalkidiki) in the late 18th century. At an early age he moved to Sykia to find work, but quickly came into conflict with the local Ottoman authorities, and became a klepht active in the region of Sithonia, Mount Cholomon, and the Chasikochoria (modern Polygyros area).

By the time of the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in 1821, he was serdar (watchman) of the central administrative body of the monasteries of Mount Athos at Karyes. On 23 March 1821, with the aid of ship captains from Psara and Ainos, Emmanouil Pappas landed on Athos with guns and ammunition. After meeting with Kapsas, they began forming an army. Supported by the Metropolitan of Maroneia Konstantios, they gathered 1,000 armed monks, while Kapsas roamed Chalkidiki, where he enjoyed great prestige due to his activity as a klepht, to rally more men to their cause. The men he gathered came mostly from the Sithonia and Kassandra peninsulas and the Chasikochoria, especially from Sykia. Kapsas' army quickly swelled to 2,000 men. The Ottomans, disquieted by the rapid spread of the revolt, launched pogroms against the Greek populace in Thessaloniki and its vicinity, thereby leading to the spread of the revolt with uprisings occurring throughout the modern Thessaloniki and Serres prefectures. In view of these developments, on 17 May Pappas officially proclaimed the Greek Revolution in northern Greece. The rebel army was split in two: Pappas with the monks and the men of the Mademochoria (the twelve villages around the silver mines in eastern Chalkidiki) moved east towards Rentina to confront the Ottoman troops moving to suppress the rebellion from Thrace, while Kapsas (with Anastasios Chymeftos as deputy commander) and his 2,000 men moved west to capture Thessaloniki.

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