In 1777 the fortifications on the Hudson were inadequate to stop the progress of a combined naval and military expedition, as was shown in the course of the campaign.
The northern enterprise was intrusted to General Burgoyne.

The impossibility of creating a new naval force, able to contend with that put afloat by Carleton, had prevented the Americans from further building.

Burgoyne therefore moved by the Lake without opposition to Ticonderoga, before which he appeared on the 2d of July.

A position commanding the works was discovered, which the Americans had neglected to occupy.

It being seized, and a battery established, the fort had to be evacuated.