The perennial problem for the British in all operations was this one of food.

The inland regions were too sparsely populated to make it possible for more than a few soldiers to live on local supplies.

The wheat for the bread of the British soldier, his beef and his pork, even the oats for his horse, came, for the most part, from England, at vast expense for transport, which made fortunes for contractors.

It is said that the cost of a pound of salted meat delivered to Burgoyne on the Hudson was thirty shillings.

Burgoyne had been told that the inhabitants needed only protection to make them openly loyal and had counted on them for supplies.