While historians might debate whether these free or freed persons were Black Loyalists or enslaved African Americans who joined the British forces in pursuit of their freedom, it seems certain that their experiences in Nova Scotia were disappointing at best (Cahill, 1999; Walker, 1999). The main obstacle to their successful settlement was limited or no access to land. According to Walker, the land-granting policy sought to compensate those who had lost the most in the American Revolution, and the former large landholders were dealt with first. Therefore, 'few blacks received any land at all, and when they did it was in smaller quantities than promised, contained some of the province's worst soil, and was often located so far from major settlements that establishing  
a viable farm upon it or even visiting it was extremely difficult' (Walker, 1976, p. 18). ${ }^{5}$ Walker argues that
[t]heir disappointment, and the discrimination with which they were met, indicated that they were not to be treated as equal citizens after all, and encouraged many of them to believe that they would have to look beyond the governor and his surveyors to complete their escape from slavery and to achieve the independence they sought (Walker, 1976, p. 32).  
It is likely that the discrimination the Black Loyalists faced - although they were free - was related to their association with previous servitude and the fact that race-based slavery was still practised in the Atlantic Provinces. As mentioned previously, the British evacuation at the end of the war included enslaved African Americans: according to Walker, '[a]n estimated 1,232 slaves, often designated "servants" or "servants for life", were brought by Loyalists from the former American colonies' (Walker, 1976, p. 40). The extension of slavery to the provinces led to the growth of the domestic slave trade and increasingly harsh conditions, including cruel whippings and even murder; as a result, some enslaved persons attempted to escape their enslavement (Riddell, 1920; Winks, 2000, pp. 51, 53). ${ }^{6}$