Washington publicly mourned the loss, but privately he voiced ambivalence about a rival who had become a thorn in his side. “Unhappy man!” he wrote Lund Washington, his Mount Vernon overseer, on December 17. “Taken by his own imprudence, going three or four miles from his own camp to lodge.” Later in the month, Washington wrote directly to Lee, enclosing a draft for £116 to ease the discomfort of captivity. “I hope,” he added, “you are as happy as a person under your circumstances can possibly be.”
