Dionysios Vourvachis (1787 – February 8, 1827)

Dionysios Vourvachis (1787 – February 8, 1827)

Born on the island of Kefalonia, he was a fighter during the Greek War of Independence.

As his father Sotirios was friends with the French military leader Napoleon, Dionysios was sent to France to complete his higher education and be taken under his wing. While there, he was admitted into the prestigious Saint-Cyr French Military Academy, graduating in 1805.

For the next decade, Dionysios fought in the French Army and was involved in the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), fighting all over Europe, reaching the rank of Colonel.

By late 1825 he was back in Greece and eager to help liberate the Greek people and fight the Ottomans. Landing in Elefsina, with his own money he financed his own 1000 strong armed force.

Dionysios and his force fought through Attica, with their intended goal to relieve the garrison stationed at the Acropolis of Athens.

But at the Battle of Kamatero north of Athens in early 1827, Dionysios Vourvachis’ unit succumbed to an Ottoman attack, he was captured and then he was beheaded by the Turks.

His death was a significant prize for the Ottomans, with his severed head sent to the Sultan as a gift.

His son Charles, who was 11 years old when his father died, grew up in France and would go on to be a Major-General in the French Army. In 1862, following the exile of the Bavarian Otto, he was offered but declined the vacant throne of Greece.