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The city of Wilmington had very little experience with football. 1893 saw witness to the first organized game of football in the city (though not an collegiate or "scientific" game), with a large event planned for the Wilmington Welcome Week, an event that ran from 1891 until 1903 to encourage citizens of North Carolina and the surrounding areas to visit the city for a week, usually in either late November or early December. While in 1892 the game of football occupied little space in Wilmington's newspapers, the city became enraptured by the sport in 1893. On November 14th, 1893, it was reported that Wilmington sought to host a game between North Carolina and Virginia, in place of the fireman's tournament, "as football is a novel and much greater attraction for our visitors" (The Wilmington Messenger, November 14th, 1893, p. 4). Other events for the 1893 Wilmington Welcome Week (or WWW as it was locally known) included 34 shots being fired from the USS Nantucket, bicycle races, a parade, day fireworks, a sham battle between the Naval Reserves and the Wilmington Light Infanty (using the Nantucket for landing troops), an oyster roast, and "the grandest display of fireworks ever seen in this state." The football game was to be one of the larger events of the week, taking place on Thursday, December 7th, the second-to-last day, with a purse of $150 (about $4,300 in 2019) going to the winner (The Morning Star, November 14th, 1893, p. 1).

The football committee of that 1893 Welcome Week was made up of George Peschau, E. Payson Willard, John D. Bellamy III, and later W. E. Springer, J. C. Stevenson, and Charles Robinson. By the following day, Willard and his associates had telegraphed UNC, Wake Forest, Trinity, and Virginia, hoping for a game involving UNC's team. The group recommended strongly for a college game to take place over a match between local teams, "as Wilmington and this section has never had a scientific game" (The Wilmington Messenger, November 16th, 1893, p. 4; The Morning Star, November 16th, 1893, p. 1). The situation got increasingly bleak for the Welcome Week organizers. By the 17th, Paschau was authorized to not wait solely for UNC, but to "close the contract as soon as satisfactory arrangements with [any teams] could be agreed upon" (The Wilmington Messenger, November 17th, 1893, p. 4). On the following day, Willard received a letter UNC's Prof. Francis Venable that UNC's football team would play no football after November 30th due to their impending exams. The next day's Wilmington Messenger contained a desperate plea for the UNC team to play the game, writing "The opportunity is seldom offered by which our community could have a practical and visible knowledge of the existence of our justly celebrated centre of learning" and that "Our entire section has been on the tiptoe of expectation at the prospect of seeing these honorable representatives of the University and it was prepared to give them a warm welcome had they been able to come" (The Wilmingtin Messenger, November 19th, 1893, p. 4).

By the 23rd, Richmond's football team had been reported as unable to play as well. However, there had apparently been some interest shown in playing by Wake Forest's team. Apparently, A&M's football team had also indicated some interest in appearing in a game in Wilmington. It was fairly clear that both of these teams were the city's second choices, A&M in particular. In a telegram to Wake Forest's team, Paschau wrote "If you are willing to play the A. & M. College here on December 7th... you may consider contract closed. We would have liked the University, or Trinity, as your oponent, but it will be a big advertisement for you, nevertheless" (The Morning Star, November 23rd, 1893, p. 1).

There were other choices, though. Parallel to the interest in the Welcome Week's football games, a few local boys had gotten together and formed the Dippy Foot Ball Club, with colors of olive and pink. The "Dippies," as they were known, were a group of men from Camp Bogart's Wilmington Light Infantry. The group was organized in January 1893, and by March they had formed the "Dippies Literary Society" (The Morning Star, January 14th, 1893, p. 1; The Morning Star, March 2nd, 1893, p. 1; The Morning Star, July 18th, 1893, p. 4). On November 15th, they had organized to play a game against UNC's second eleven at Hilton Park on Christmas Day, with members reportedly playing on football teams from Peekskill Military Academy and Lehigh's team. Members of the team were H. Peschau (captain), Samuel J. Springer (business manager), C. S. Grainger, Robert S. Maffit, Lonnie B. Southerland, R. Clinton Bunting, Harry Honnett, William A. French, William R. Brice, Charles R. Lewis, and William McRae Smith (The Morning Star, November 15th, 1893, p. 1; The Morning Star, November 17th, 1893, p. 1) The team was not well organized, not even posessing a football until November 21st, leaving them just over a month of practice for their proposed game. By the 23rd, the "Dippies" (or "Dips") had received a challenge from NC A&M's second eleven, and proposed that their game be played as the Welcome Week game (The Wilmington Messenger, November 21st, 1893, p. 4; The Morning Star, November 23rd, 1893, p. 1).

With both A&M's first and second teams having either tentatively agreed to a game or actively challenged a team, and Wake Forest's team, it seems perplexing that Wilmington's first game of football was not played in 1893. In fact, Peschau had promised in local papers that contracts would be closed for a game between "giants" by the end of the day on December 1st (The Weekly Star, December 1st, 1893, p. 1). Though I have found nothing to support this, it seems likely to me that, in lieu of the lower-quality teams, the football committee lowered the payout of the game. The Raleigh boys, though undefeated save one game, were largely untested, playing only against very low-quality teams; Wake Forest had equally probably a more unimpressive season, losing 6-12 to Trinity and 0-40 to UNC, their sole win being against a truly pathetic Tennessee team. It also seems likely to me that both teams had been hoping to get a match with UNC and agreed under those premises.

Nonetheless, a "scientific" game of football was promised to be played on Wednesday, December 6th, at Hilton Park at 3 PM (The Weekly Star, December 1st, 1893, p. 2). It was later announced that the game would be between the "Dippies" and a second team conjured up from Wilmington called the Wilmington Football team, composed of football committee-members E. Phason Willard and C. H. Robinson, Jr., in addition to W. M. Atkinson, B. F. Lee, June Gordon, Dr. T. B. Carroll, J. C. Wise, J. Morrison, S. Merrill (replacing W. W. Merrell), Jonathan H. Gore, H. E. Bonitz, and James Sinclair. An earlier lineup of men also had Peschau playing, but other players were brought in to replace him. Being the first time football had ever been formally played in Wilmington, the game was offered to spectators free-of-charge (The Morning Star, December 3rd, 1893, p. 1; The Wilmington Messenger, December 3rd, 1893, p. 4). Unfortunately for the hopes of Peschau and the other football enthusiasts of Wilmington, the weather for the week turned out to be unexpectedly wet, with a slow but steady rain falling for over 24 hours (Asheville Daily Citizen, December 5th, 1893, p. 1). It was reported that just as the fair was supposed to be started on the 5th that the clouds parted and the rain stopped, but the football game was delayed, and tentatively rescheduled to Friday, the 8th, though The Morning Star reported that the game would still be played at 3 PM on the day of the 6th (The Morning Star, December 7th, 1893, p. 1; The Morning Star, December 5th, 1893, p. 1; The Morning Star, December 6th, 1893, p. 1). It is not clear if that game ever took place; it is also unclear if the Dippies' game against either A&M's second eleven or UNC's second eleven ever ocurred.

The following year, the Wilmington Welcome Week's planning committee started searching for interest in football matchups much earlier, with a game being described as "probable" on October 13th (The Morning Star, October 13th, 1894, p. 1). By the 25th, it was announced that the Welcome Week would feature a game between NC A&M's team and a team made up of local Wilmingtonians, along with similar festivities from the year before, inluding a 21-gun salute by the Nantucket, a large parade, a staged attack on Fort Fisher by the Nantucket, and fireworks, in addition to new events like competitive trap shooting (featuring teams from both of the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Virginia), bands every night, and bike, foot, and boat races. M. F. Heiskell was this year placed in charge of the football committee (The Morning Star, October 25th, 1894, p. 1). It was also announced that the city of Wilmington planned to play the game on Thanksgiving, and that they were this year setting aside $200 (over $5,800 in 2019) for the game (The Tar Heel, November 8th, 1894, p. 3). By the 28th, it was announced that Wilmington's team, coached by Tom Daniels, was "practicing nightly," and making good progress, with hopes of giving "a hard tussle" to the A&M boys (The Morning Star, October 28th, 1894, p. 1; The Morning Star, November 11th, 1894, p. 4).

The Wilmington Athletic Club, known as the Brownies, was out in full force to prepare for what one paper reported would be the last football game of the 1894 season played in North Carolina. Their colors were white and blue (The Evening Visitor, November 13th, 1894, p. 1). The night of the 26th, the team practiced for 3 hours; despite that, it was recognized that "Although they do not expect to win the game they hope to play strong enough to give the A. & M. boys some work to do." The game was widely regarded as a way to simply introduce the people of Wilmington to the game of football; as such, the game was lauded to be a clean game of football with no slugging. A lietenant of the USRC Colfax, Hasson, stated that he would promptly disqualify any player for slugging, but it was reiterated that "There is no feeling of personal animosity between the teams which is generally the cause of the unnecsessary [sic] roughness in some of the college games." It was anticipated that between 3,000 and 4,000 people would come out to see the game, and that stores may be closed from 1 to 5:50 PM so that the store owners might get a chance to see Wilmington's first true game of football (The Morning Star, November 27th, 1894, p. 1).

Wilmington's football team was composed of a few returners from the attempted 1893 teams, including Peschau and Gore. Gore and a second player, Durham, were both reportedly from the Wake Forest football team. The game was umpired by Lt. Hasson, of the USRC Colfax, refereed by an E. A. Wessel, reportedly of NC A&M, and had a linesman in Seymour Morrill of U. of P., though which particular "P" is not clear. The day was described as not overly cold, with a gentle northward wind blowing through the air. This is the best-recorded football game of A&M history up to this point, with 2 seperate newspapers giving different play-by-play accounts of the game.

The Brownies won the toss-up, choosing to keep the ball; A&M chose their goal. Wilmington started the game with a drop-kick, which was called back by Wessel and place-kicked, as required by the rules. Durham kicked the ball, which was caught by Vick for A&M. Vick was tackled by Gore before he could gain any yards. A&M tried a series of plays involving running the backs around the ends, but Wilmington's tackling, especially that of Perschau.

Here, the accounts of the game differ slightly. The Wilmington Messenger writes that after the ball was kept in A&M territory "for some time," the Wilmington team finally secured the ball. The paper then goes on to confusingly write "The ball was secured by the Wilmington boys.... The A. and M. team work was very good, and the ball was gradually worked down the field, the Wilmington boys fighting hard. A touchdown was finally made by Vick and the goal kicked by Whitaker." The Morning Star's report similarly described a slow and grueling trip down the gridiron, but did not contain a change of posession. Whether Wilmington had the ball or not is inconsequential, as the team did nothing of note with it if they had the ball or not. After that point, the newspapers agree again, writing that Durham again kicked the ball, and A&M received it. After that, both teams played well defensively, with the Star writing that "honors were easy" and the Messenger writing that the ball stayed in A&M territory, with special accolades going to Perschau, Gore, and Bellamy of Wilmington. The first half ended with A&M up 6-0, and was followed by a ten-minute resting period.

The second half started with Whitaker kicking the ball off for A&mapM. Gore caught the kick for Wilmington and was downed near midfield. Wilmington soon lost the ball again, with Bandy, who had been switched from another position to fullback by this point in the game, kicking the ball back to A&M, reportedly delivering a better kick that Whitaker. Vick again returned the ball for A&M, and was again quickly brought down by Wilmington, this time by Gibbons. Here the newspapers differ slightly in opinion on why A&M began pulling away, with the Star stating that by this point A&M had found the weak spot in Wilmington's line, and the Messenger writing "the training of the college team began to tell here, our boys not being in condition to stand the continual bucking all along the line." The ball may have been returned a few times to Wilmington's posession, but their team was too exhausted to do anything of note with the ball. Both articles agree that A&M moved the ball slowly down the field, with the Star writing that "Bellamy, Gore and Peschaue simply had to sacrifice themselves." Eventually, "some very pretty plays" led to a touchdown by A&M. The Messenger reported that Whitaker scored the 4 points, but the Star wrote that Kendall scored the touchdown. Either way, the score was now 12-0 for the Raleigh boys after a second successful kick by Whitaker.

From here on out, we rely on the summary made by the Messenger, as the Star felt content in summarizing the remainder of the game as "a continuation of the same tactics." The ball was brought to the center of the field and kicked off by Wilmington, probably by Durham, though it was not recorded by whom. Jenkins went to catch the ball but muffed the ball; Hunter managed to secure the ball and made a "beautiful pass" to Whitaker, who then kicked the ball back to the Brownies. Peschau attempted to catch the kick but instead executed the second straight kick fumbled, but the damage was again minimal, as Bandy secured the ball. The teams lined up to start the drive at the 50 yard line. The ball was snapped to Bellamy, who attempted to run around one of the ends, but he was unintentionally fouled by Wright on the play. Nonetheless, Wilmington was given 15 yards, but eventually lost the ball on downs. After regaining the ball, A&M gradually worked the ball down to Wilmington's goal, where Moseley put the ball across; this time, Whitaker missed the kick. The score now stood 16-0. After the following kickoff, "heavy punting followed on both sides."

Eventually, Whitaker made a kick deep into Wilmington's territory, and the Farmers overwhelmed the Brownies, getting the turnover on downs. In the following series of rushes by A&M, Gore for Wilmington was injured. The Messenger claimed that A&M "made it a point to injure him in any way possible," but wrote that despite his injuries, Gore, a local Wilmington boy, would soon be back out of his house by December 2nd. Gore was replaced by Sawyer. Eventually, the last touchdown of the game was made, and Whitaker kicked his 3rd successful kick of the day, making the score 22-0. The teams continued to play with "pretty punting" being done by Bandy and Whitaker, but no more gains of any note were made by either side.

Of the game, the Star wrote that "Bellamy, Gore, Peschau, Sinclair, Durham, Bandy and Gibbon, are all first rate players, and the rest of the men only need coaching and practice to bring them up to the mark." The Messenger optimistically wrote "The Wilmington team surprised their many friends by their good work. If they had practiced more we would have had a different story to tell." Dey, the manager of A&M's team, wrote that the game was "the friendliest game we have had this season" and that he hoped the team could play the team again during their Christmas break. Hasson, speaking in the Star, was unabashedly shocked at the unexpectedly low score of the game, claiming he thought the Brownies would have lost by 40-0, saying that the score of 22-0 showed "that in spite of their total lack of team work, they had amongst them several individual players of unusual excellence." Hasson went on to say that Gore went out of the game not due to any targeting by A&M, but due instead to his exertion. Hasson praised the boy's efforts, saying "All through the game he played like a fiend, not only covering his own position, but getting into almost every play" (The Wilmington Messenger, December 1st, 1894, p. 4; The Morning Star, December 1st, 1894, p. 1). The next morning, the Messenger had an article stating that Gore himself sided with Hasson, saying "Mr. Gore informs us that it was his own fault every time he got hurt and not the fault of the college boys" (The Wilmington Messenger, December 2nd, 1894, p. 8). Hassan also later received a letter from Whitaker, praising him for his fair and accurate calling of the game, writing "there was not a single decision that was not fair and just." He also appologized for Wright's slugigng, saying it was unintentional (The Morning Star, December 5th, 1894, p. 1).

In addition to the praises of their own men mentioned above, the Messenger also praised for A&M the kicking of Whitaker, the end runs of Vick and Kendall, the work at center of Mosely, and Beard's interference, describing him as "a honey" (meaning a good fellow).

A&M's team made out well, not just in terms of football success, but also monetarily. The Farmers got 1/4 of the nearly $200 of gate receipts, in addition to the $150 promised to the team to entice them to come, totaling nearly $350 (just under $10,200 in 2019), according to the Messenger.

As for the game hoped to be played around Christmas, it never materialized. Part of this could be attributed to the lateness of the year. Another reason the game never took place could be because of how strong public opinoin in the United State was turning against football. Though the game in Wilmington was largely without injury, other games that day were not. While A&M and football were both briefly villainized by the press for Gore's injury, the Raleigh team was merely a scapegoat for an underlying fear of the game which had manifested in the city months before the game took place in the form of snide editorial comments. To make matters worse, a Georgetown football player named George D. Hagen was severely injured in a game of football played on Thanksgiving. His injury reuslted in his paralysis from the chest down; in response, Georgetown ended their football program. The impact of his injury was felt elsewhere; among other incidents, the entire state of Indiana banned intercollegiate football games. A table appeared in some newspapers comparing the percentage of disabled participants in that year's Harvard-Pennsylvania match to the percentage of soldiers disabled in Civil War battles, and claimed that that the football game, with 23% of its participants disabled, was topped only by the notoriously-bloody Battle of Chickamauga (30%), besting infamous battles like Gettysburg (18%) and Antietam (15%), and making battles like Fredericksburg (8%) look tame by comparison (The Washington Times, December 2nd, 1894, p. 1; Union Leader, December 7th, 1894, p. 5; The Morning Star, December 28th, 1894, p. 4; The Wilmington Messenger, December 6th, 1894, p. 2). Though many of those numbers are far off (for example, modern casualty estimates of Gettysburg range around 28%), they served to turn the American public against the game of football.