On October 17, 1777, British General John Burgoyne surrendered his army to American forces at Saratoga in New York. The defeat ended a British campaign to cut New England off from the rest of the colonies. American troops under General Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold had blocked and attacked Burgoyne’s forces over several weeks. The surrender convinced France that the American cause had a real chance of success. France then entered the war as an ally of the United States, providing troops, money, and naval support. Many historians view Saratoga as a turning point of the Revolutionary War.
