Pownall arrived in Boston in early August. He was well received, and assumed his duties on 3 August. He was immediately thrust into a war-related crisis: a French force was reported to be moving toward Fort William Henry in northern New York, and the military commander there had made an urgent call for militia. Pownall was energetic in organizing the militia, but the call to arms came too late: Fort William Henry fell after a brief siege that was followed by some of the worst Indian atrocities of the war.