This Burgoyne had not done.

It was only a little more than a week before he reached Lake Champlain that he asked Carleton to provide the four hundred horses and five hundred carts which he still needed and which were not easily secured in a sparsely settled country.

Burgoyne lingered for three days at Crown Point, half way down the lake.

Then, on the 2d of July, he laid siege to Fort Ticonderoga.
Once past this fort, guarding the route to Lake George, he could easily reach the Hudson.
In command at Fort Ticonderoga was General St.Clair, with about thirty-five hundred men.

He had long notice of the siege, for the expedition of Burgoyne had been the open talk of Montreal and the surrounding country during many months.