The Nova Scotian Settlers or Sierra Leone Settlers (also known as the Nova Scotians or more commonly as the 'Settlers) were African Americans from the United States who founded the settlement of Freetown and the second colony of Sierra Leone on March 11, 1792. The majority of these black immigrants were among 3000 former slaves and free blacks known as Black Loyalists who sought refuge with the British during the American Revolutionary War. The Nova Scotian settlers were jointly led by former soldier Thomas Peters and John Clarkson, an English abolitionist and first governor of Freetown, who became a respected friend and patron of the Nova Scotian settlers.