Makrygiannis, when the revolution broke out, was in Arta, pretending to be a peacemaker. There he was arrested by the Turks and brutally tortured for 75 days, as he says. He escaped death twice and was finally rescued, through a relative of Ali Pasha, who was fighting against the Turks. After staying with him for a while, in August 1821, he joined the corps of Captain Gogos Bakolas.
Under Gogos, Makrygiannis received his baptism of fire, fighting at Tzoumerka. After repelling the Turks there, Gogos and his corps settled defensively in the village of Peta. On September 11, 1821, the Turks attacked.
The Greeks, alerted, awaited the Turkish attack, having made drums. At first light the Turks appeared, who also had cannons. The Greeks were terrified of cannons, as their effectiveness was largely unknown to them.
The Turks, led by Hasan Pasha, a trusted officer of the Turkish general Hursit, advanced 9,000 men, against 350 Greeks. Gogos Bakolas ordered the 300 to the front line of the tambourines, keeping 50 men as a reserve.
The Turks, with continuous attacks, tried to bend the Greek resistance, but they did not succeed. The Greeks heroically resisted the Turkish attacks from morning until sunset . Makrygiannis mentions that the greatest torment was thirst.
He also mentions a military anecdote from this battle. A young Turkish bey led many raids against the Greeks, with bravery. The Greeks repeatedly tried to hit him, but they failed . Then Gogos came to Makrygianni's drum and told them not to waste ammunition "for a gournomitis".
Gogos took a caryophil and told them to bring him his head as soon as he killed the bey. Makrygiannis answered him laughing that the bey does not give his head, he wants it! Gogos, without answering, raised the gun and with a shot hit the Turk in the head, leaving him dead, saying:"Gournomytis, you play with the children all day and they burned my balloons unjustly".
Finally, the battle was decided by the intervention of the Greek reserve, at the right moment, on the side of the Turks, when it started to get dark. The Turks, unable to perceive the magnitude of the force that overwhelmed them, fled, pursued by the Greeks, as far as Arta. In this battle, Makrygiannis received his first wound, in the right leg.
The brave Bakolas was the atoning victim for the sake of Mavrokordatos to justify the defeat of the Greeks and Philhellenes in the second, disastrous battle of Peta, in 1822. Makrygiannis said of him:"He was an honest man and a brave patriot and Good... The country owes this brave man graces".