 Although Fort Ticonderoga was not at the time an important military post, its capture had several important results. Rebel control of the area meant that overland communications and supply lines between British forces in Quebec and those in Boston and later New York were severed, so the British military command made an adjustment to their command structure. This break in communication was highlighted by the fact that Arnold, on his way north to Saint-Jean, intercepted a message from Carleton to Gage, detailing the military troop strengths in Quebec. Command of British forces in North America, previously under a single commander, was divided into two commands. General Carleton was given independent command of forces in Quebec and the northern frontier, while General William Howe was appointed Commander-in-Chief of forces along the Atlantic coast, an arrangement that had worked well between Generals Wolfe and Amherst in the French and Indian War. In this war, however, cooperation between the two forces would prove to be problematic and would play a role in the failure of the Saratoga campaign in 1777, as General Howe apparently abandoned an agreed-upon northern strategy, leaving General John Burgoyne without southern support in that campaign.
