Tensions between the British government and the Thirteen colonies eventually led to the American Revolutionary War. The conflict resulted in some 46,000 people loyal to the Crown—dubbed United Empire Loyalists—to flee north from the United States; the King-in-Council granted each family of land. At the same time, thousands of Iroquois and other Aboriginals were expelled from New York and other states, resettling under the protection of the Crown in what is now Ontario, and some 3,000 former slaves of African ancestry, known as Black Loyalists, settled in Nova Scotia. Continuing today, Ontario residents descended from these original refugees retain the post-nominals "UE", standing for "United Empire". The loyalists who settled in Nova Scotia, however, were not immediately made to feel comfortable, as many of the already settled residents were aligned with the United States and its republican cause; Colonel Thomas Dundas wrote from Saint John in 1786: "Loyalists have experienced every possible injury from the old inhabitants of Nova Scotia, who are even more disaffected towards the British Government than any of the new States ever were. This makes me much doubt their remaining long dependent."