Editing Lake Champlain (section)

====General Burgoyne's Campaign====
[[File:Lake Champlain, Vermont.jpg|thumb|Lake Champlain, [[Charlotte, Vermont]]]]
In early 1777, [[Great Britain|British]] General [[John Burgoyne]] led 8,000 troops from Canada, down Lake Champlain and into the Champlain Valley.<ref name=":4" /> The goal of this invasion was to divide the [[New England]] colonies, thus forcing the Continental Army into a separated fight on multiple fronts.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |title=Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War |last=Ketchum |first=Richard |publisher=Macmillan |year=1997}}</ref> Lake Champlain provided Burgoyne with protected passage deep into the [[Thirteen Colonies|American colonies]]. Burgoyne's army reached Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence in late June, 1777. During the night of July 5, the American forces fled Ticonderoga as the British took control of the fort. However, Burgoyne's southern campaign did not go uncontested.

On October&nbsp;7, 1777, American General [[Horatio Gates]], who occupied [[Battles of Saratoga|Bemis Heights]], met Burgoyne's army at the Second [[Battle of Freeman's Farm]].<ref name=":6" /> At Freeman's Farm, Burgoyne's army suffered its final defeat and ended its invasion south into the colonies. Ten days later, on October&nbsp;17, 1777, British General Burgoyne surrendered his army at [[Saratoga campaign|Saratoga]].<ref name=":6" /> This defeat was instrumental to the momentum of the Revolutionary War, as the defeat of the British army along the Champlain-Hudson waterway convinced [[France]] to ally with the American army.<ref name=":1" />