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Nikitaras (Greek: Νικηταρας) was the nom de guerre of Nikitas Stamatelopoulos (Greek: Νικητας Σταματελοπουλος) (1784?–1849), a Greek revolutionary who fought for Greece's freedom during the Greek War of Independence. The date and place of Nikitaras' birth are disputed. Most likely he was born in the village of Nedoussa in the Peloponnesian province of Messenia. The date of his birth was probably 1784. His uncle was Theodore Kolokotronis, the most important Greek military leader of the revolution. There was a story that when he was a child he could jump further than adults. As a nephew of Kolokotronis who was wanted, Turkish authorities tried to capture him, but he escaped and joined his uncle in exile after hiding in the village of Balla (now Pefko) in Messenia. When the Greek war of Independence started he returned with his uncle to the mainland. When his uncle commanded the Greek army at Tripolis, his arrival signalled the Turks' fate. When the commander and his men tried to escape the city, Nikitaras and his klephts cut them off and slaughtered them. During the civil war he fought along side his uncle. His cousin Panos was killed in a skirmish. Nikitaras' army was destroyed by Gouras' forces. Nikitaras fled to the Ionian Islands. Nikitaras returned and supported his uncle against the Turks. Nikitaras' nickname was "Τουρκοφαγος" pronounced "Turkofagos" or 'Turk Eater.' Nikitaras was a strong patriot and he was not corrupt like many of the leaders of the Greek Revolution. When he was offered by Ioanis Kolettis to kill a rival in exchange for a government position, Nikitaras refused to offer and became angry with Kolettis. He also refused to take booty after battle, which was something rare for Balkan soldiers at the time. After the war, Nikitaras was thrown in jail along with his uncle Kolokotronis as he was a strong opponent of the ethnic-Bavarian King Otto of Greece. He was also a strong campaigner for the rights of those who fought in the Revolution. He was released from prison in 1841, but Nikitaras' stint in jail proved ill for his health and he died in 1849 in Piraeus. He is especially famous for his words during the siege of Messolonghi. When he arrived in the city with supplies, many soldiers, who had not been paid in months, asked him if he had brought any money to pay them. Nikitaras got upset, and flung down his sword, which was a magnificent weapon he had taken from a Turkish Pasha he had killed, uttering the words that every Greek schoolchild knows by heart: "I have only my sword, and that I glady give for my country."
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