Many of Hutchinson's supporters were ordered out of the Massachusetts colony, but a group of them (including Coggeshall) signed what is called the Portsmouth Compact before leaving Boston, thus establishing a non-sectarian civil government with a Christian focus, upon the universal consent of the inhabitants. The group initially planned to settle in New Netherland, but they were persuaded by Roger Williams to purchase some land from the Indians on Narragansett Bay. They moved to the northeast end of Rhode Island and established the settlement of Pocasset, changing the name to Portsmouth in 1639. William Coddington was elected the first judge (governor) of the settlement. In May 1638, Coggeshall was on a committee to lay out land there, and he was granted six acres at the same time. The following year, a disagreement prompted Coddington and a few other leaders, including Coggeshall, to leave Portsmouth and begin a new settlement called Newport at the south end of the island. Governor Winthrop described the 1639 disagreement in Portsmouth in his journal: "the people grew very tumultuous and put out Mr. Coddington and the other three magistrates." Coggeshall was one of the three referred to by Winthrop.