He is best known, along with Anastasios Polyzoidis, for his refusal to agree to the condemnation and execution of Theodoros Kolokotronis and Dimitrios Plapoutas, in 1834.

When the Greek Revolution broke out in 1821, Tertsetis returned to Zakynthos, fired up with patriotic fever, and took part in some battles in Peloponnese.

He was able to find some work in Nafplion where he was given the post of History Professor at the Military Academy.

He is mostly known in Greece as one of the two judges who refused to succumb to government pressure and condemn Theodoros Kolokotronis to death in 1834, a brave act that put him to exile, though.

The most famous work of Tertsetis was The Memoirs of Kolokotronis, a narrative biography of the great hero of the Greek Revolution.