They paused only to capture the formidable American fort at Ticonderoga.British expectations were dashed, however, in the American countryside. Burgoyne's cumbersome retinue, which included 30 carts of Burgoyne's personal possessions, and several cases of champagne, was stymied by the dense New York forests.Burgoyne successfully negotiated that his surviving men would be returned to Britain by pledging that they would never again serve in North America. The nearly 6,000-man army was kept in captivity at great expense to the Continental Congress until the end of the war.Soon after word of the Patriot victory at Saratoga reached France, King Louis XVI agreed to recognize the independence of the United States and French Foreign Minister Charles Gravier, Count de Vergennes, made arrangements with U.S. Ambassador Benjamin Franklin to begin providing formal French aid to the Patriot cause. This assistance was crucial to the eventual American victory in the Revolutionary
They paused only to capture the formidable American fort at Ticonderoga.British expectations were dashed, however, in the American countryside. Burgoyne's cumbersome retinue, which included 30 carts of Burgoyne's personal possessions, and several cases of champagne, was stymied by the dense New York forests.Burgoyne successfully negotiated that his surviving men would be returned to Britain by pledging that they would never again serve in North America. The nearly 6,000-man army was kept in captivity at great expense to the Continental Congress until the end of the war.Soon after word of the Patriot victory at Saratoga reached France, King Louis XVI agreed to recognize the independence of the United States and French Foreign Minister Charles Gravier, Count de Vergennes, made arrangements with U.S. Ambassador Benjamin Franklin to begin providing formal French aid to the Patriot cause. This assistance was crucial to the eventual American victory in the Revolutionary