<Li> Forts Clinton and Montgomery </Li> <Li> 2nd Saratoga (Bemis Heights) </Li> <P> The Battles of Saratoga (September 19 and October 7, 1777) marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War . British General John Burgoyne led a large invasion army southward in the Champlain Valley from Canada, hoping to meet a similar force marching northward from New York City, and another force marching eastward from Lake Ontario; the southern and western forces never arrived, and Burgoyne was surrounded by American forces in upstate New York . Burgoyne fought two small battles to break out . They took place eighteen days apart on the same ground, 9 miles (14 km) south of Saratoga, New York . They both failed . Trapped by superior American forces, and with no relief in sight, Burgoyne retreated to Saratoga (now Schuylerville) and surrendered his entire army there on October 17 . His surrender, says historian Edmund Morgan, "was a great turning point of the war because it won for Americans the foreign assistance which was the last element needed for victory . </P> <P> Burgoyne's strategy to divide New England from the southern colonies had started well but slowed due to logistical problems . He won a small tactical victory over General Horatio Gates and the Continental Army in the September 19 Battle of Freeman's Farm at the cost of significant casualties . His gains were erased when he again attacked the Americans in the October 7 Battle of Bemis Heights and the Americans captured a portion of the British defenses . Burgoyne was therefore compelled to retreat, and his army was surrounded by the much larger American force at Saratoga, forcing him to surrender on October 17 . News of Burgoyne's surrender was instrumental in formally bringing France into the war as an American ally, although it had previously given supplies, ammunition, and guns, notably the de Valliere cannon, which played an important role in Saratoga . This battle also resulted in Spain joining France in the war against Britain . </P>

What was significant about the american victory at saratoga in 1777