History - Kings Orange Rangers

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vessel which Perkins was building. 278 He is mentioned several times during the decade and
clearly became a person of some note in Liverpool. In July 1796 he cut his foot so badly he
could not work and Perkins and others took up a subscription to assist him financially. 279
1791
John Howard certainly was a man of dogged determination. This has already been seen through
his Liverpool command and in disputes with neighbours in St. Martins. On September 13 th
1791, he swore a statement claiming that now General John Coffin, had breached the agreement
of 1778 by which they had exchanged commissions and in fact had defrauded him of 175
guineas.
According to Howard, Coffin agreed to transfer thirty-six men from Howard’s Company of the
New York Volunteers to the King’s Orange Rangers. At the time of the agreement, Howard’s
NYVcompany had a strength of ninety-seven privates, whereas Coffin’s KOR company had a
more modest strength of eighteen. Additionally, Howard stated that the agreement included
promise of a payment of 175 guineas to him by Coffin. Further, he claimed that the onus to seek
the approbation of Sir Henry Clinton for this arrangement, rested with Coffin. Howard later
complained that Coffin had in fact received Clinton’s permission, but never complied with the
rest of the agreement. In fact, Howard went on to claim that Coffin had actually lied and stated
(presumably after the war), that Clinton had never agreed to the exchange or to the other terms of
the agreement.
In support of his claim, Howard stated that about the 29 th of July, 1778, Clinton’s headquarters
did in fact issue an order authorizing and directing an exchange of the respective companies.
Further to this, Howard went on to claim that throughout the summer, he memorialized the
Commander-in-Chief to require Coffin to pay up. Howard states that in October, Coffin did pay
him 100 guineas and provided him with an order drawn in favour of Howard’s wife, Lucy. Prior
to embarking for Nova Scotia where she intended to meet her husband, Lucy Howard obtained
an order from Sir Henry Clinton requiring Coffin to pay the remaining 75 guineas. Howard
claims that Coffin evaded payment and that Lucy Howard left New York for Halifax with the
order in her possession. Tragically, Lucy Howard never reached her destination. On route the
vessel in which she was a passenger foundered and she and seven of her children drowned. Also
lost, was the proof of the unrealized order.
The statement of claim makes it clear that while Coffin claimed he had paid the outstanding
balance to Lucy Howard, that he in fact never had and that it was still owing. Additionally, he
claims that Coffin never did transfer the agreed upon thirty-six men from the New Jersey
Volunteers to the King’s Orange Rangers. Consequently, Howard states that he had been “put to
great trouble and fatigue and obliged to disburse and pay several large sums of money in order to
obtain Recruits for [his]… Company in the King’s Orange Rangers”, this in order to prevent the
278
Diary of Simeon Perkins 1790-1796, Bruce Ferguson, Ed., Champlain Society, Toronto 1961 Vol. XXXIX p.
32
279
Ibid. p.415
King’s Orange Rangers