As the American Revolution progressed and the British defeat became apparent, the fate of the enslaved and free African Americans who had joined the British forces became a matter of great concern. The negotiated peace agreement sought, among other things, to prevent the unlawful 'carrying away [of] any Negroes or other Property of the American Inhabitants' from the United States of America. In response, the British issued guidelines which provided that Black people who were behind British lines before 30 November 1782 were free and could be evacuated with other British Loyalists; for others, petitions for their return by former enslavers were heard. In order to expedite the evacuation, the British commander-in-chief Sir Guy Carleton kept a record of all free Black people being removed so that compensation could be paid to legitimate American claimants. This "Book of Negroes" listed a total of 3,000, inspected in New York between 26 April and 30 November 1783, bound for Nova Scotia'; it did not include those who preceded the roll or took other routes, or those who followed. By the end of the evacuation, more than ten per cent of the 30,000 Loyalists who migrated to Nova Scotia were free Black men, women and children (Walker, 1976, pp. 11-12). And they were not alone: along with the thousands of free 'Black Loyalists' were large numbers of enslaved African Americans who accompanied their Loyalist masters to British imperial locations, especially in Upper Canada (now Ontario) and the Atlantic Provinces.