On October 7, 1777, American General Horatio Gates, who occupied Bemis Heights, met Burgoyne's army at the Second Battle of Freeman's Farm. At Freeman's Farm, Burgoyne's army suffered its final defeat and ended its invasion south into the colonies. Ten days later, on October 17, 1777, British General Burgoyne surrendered his army at Saratoga. This defeat was instrumental to the momentum of the Revolutionary War, as the defeat of the British army along the Champlain-Hudson waterway convinced France to ally with the American army.