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On the day A&M was getting defeated at the hands of VMI, it was announced that the Farmers would play the following day in Charlotte. They were scheduled to leave Atlanta shortly after their game and arrive in Charlotte by the night of the 25th.

Though A&M was coming off a tough loss to VMI, the game was still expected to be easily won by the Red and White. Charlotte's team was "greatly hampered by lack of training" (Daily Charlotte Observer, October 25th, 1895, p. 4). On top of the fact that Charlotte's team, whose colors were Red and Black, had never played together that year, they also had to borrow "two or three loans from neighboring teams." The "loans" were Mr. Snipes, of UNC's 1894 team, and two other unnamed players of 240 and 220 lbs (Charlotte Daily Observer, October 27th, 1895, p. 6).

Though Latta Park had hosted many exhibition games between larger teams in the years immediately prior, Charlotte had a short history of football. The earliest match I could find taking place in Charlotte dated to February 20th, 1886; the match took place between a team called the Macons and a "Graded School," with the Macons winning by a score of 4-1. The Macons beat another team called the Floaters on March 5th, also by 4-1, and later even scheduled a game in Shelby for May 11th, though the game appears to have never taken place (Daily Charlotte Observer, February 20th, 1886, p. 7; Daily Charlotte Observer, March 5th, 1886, p. 3; Daily Charlotte Observer, April 30th, 1886, p. 3). In the following January, the Macon and Graded school "nines" met on the grounds of the Charlotte Military Institute, the Macons again winning, this time 3-0 (Daily Charlotte Observer, January 29th, 1887, p. 4).

After those games, there was a respite from football being played in Charlotte, or at the very least being formally announced and recorded. In 1889, Davidson College organized her first football association, led by a Russell Bellamy, of UNC. Davidson's initial plan was to play Trinity's team in Charlotte in the fall, but if a game could not be arranged with Trinity, a game between Davidson's two teams would be arranged instead; the plan was later changed to have a game played between two of Davidson's teams, and then attempt to get a match against either Trinity or UNC (Daily Charlotte Observer, September 28th, 1889, p. 4; Daily Charlotte Observer, October 10th, 1889, p. 4; Daily Charlotte Observer, October 20th, 1889, p. 1). Unfortunately, none of those games appear to have taken place.

Instead, Charlotte saw her first organized football take place in 1893. It had been hoped that Charlotte would host a match on around May 20th, 1892, as a part of a multi-day celebration of the dubiously-authentic Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. Originally, the match was to be between a team from New Berne and a team from Asheville, but just a week after the initial announcement, Wake Forest's team signed an agreement to play in Charlotte, with the hopes of playing Trinity. After the games had been all but agreed upon, it came up that some "previous unfriendliness" existed between the two teams, with the teams having not met since 1889. Instead, a game was arranged to be played between Wake Forest and the Asheville Athletic Club (Daily Charlotte Observer, April 22nd, 1892, p. 4; Daily Charlotte Observer, April 30th, 1892, p. 4; Daily Charlotte Observer, May 11th, 1892, p. 1; Daily Charlotte Observer, May 18th, 1892, p. 4).

The Asheville-Wake Forest game was played at 4:45 PM on the first day of the May 20th Celebration. Other festivities of the day were to be a baseball match, gun clubs, a display by the Confederate-based Guilford Grays, a balloon ascension, and a Wild West show. There was reportedly an "immense" crowd in the park for the afternoon of the game. Despite an exciting 40-0 blowout of Asheville, "The crowd... labored a very serious disadvantage," due to the fact that many of the audience members had never seen the game, and could thus not appreciate the sport of it. Despite Asheville's tremendous loss, the team took the loss "gracefully and with manly spirit." The work of umpire Walter Murphy and referee Robert Bingham was reported to be satisfactory, and the game was overall free of any "slugging" (Charlotte Daily News, May 18th, 1892, p. 1; Daily Charlotte Observer, May 19th, 1892, p. 4; The Charlotte News, May 19th, 1892, p. 7).

Charlotte's first football team was organized the following year, in 1893. The Charlotte YMCA team was described as "ill-conditioned" and "inexperienced," but played matches against Guilford College and Davidson nonetheless. The team began practicing for a game with Guilford on October 8th, managed by a man named Adams. The first game was scheduled to be played with Guilford for Saturday, October 14th, but was delayed due to the sickness of Charlotte's team captain, Mahan, who had been "confined to his bed" for 10 straight days as of October 10th. The following day, the match was officially postponed, as it would be "several weeks" before Mahan was in "kicking condition" (Daily Charlotte Observer, October 10th, 1893, p. 4; Daily Charlotte Observer, October 8, 1893, p. 5; Daily Charlotte Observer, October 11, 1893, p. 1).

A week later, a game was announced between Charlotte's team and Davidson College, to be played on Monday, the 23rd. Though he was not necessarily healthy on the day the game was announced, Mahan was expected to be in "playing condition" and "able to put a pretty strong team in the field" by Monday. The local paper was optimistic for Charlotte's team, but realistic: the paper wrote "Charlotte always banks on her own, and right she nearly always is," but also admitted that "those college boys are pretty good at any game" (Daily Charlotte Observer, October 17th, 1893, p. 4).

Unfortunately, Charlotte's optimisim was misplaced. A headline the next morning wrote "Charlotte was not in it" in reference to the game, describing the 36-0 loss to Davidson as caused by "inexperience" and "short practice." The Charlotte team arrived in Davidson, where they were reportedly treated very kindly by the Davidson boys. "It seems as if the Davidson boys had a presentiment that Charlotte would soon be engulfed in defeat," opined one writer, also writing that the rain held off on that cloudy day because "the clouds had mercy on them and would not add to their sorrow." The game was called at 3 PM; "From the start it was plainly to be seen that our [Charlotte] boys were to be outclassed." The best playing for Charlotte came from Mahan, Webb, and Adams, who made a run of 40 yards and another of 20 yards. Despite the runs, they all showed lack of experience. Particularly notable was the work of McDowell, Mott, Vass, Cheatham, and Davidson's captain, Schenck, despite "a very lame shoulder" (Daily Charlotte Observer, October 24th, 1893, p. 1).

In the description of the Davidson game, it was announced that despite the loss the Charlotte boys weren't discouraged, and that they would "probably" play Guilford on Saturday, November 5th. About a week before the game, Mahan said he felt optimistic about the game, noting that the Charlotte team played better in the second half of their only game than the first half. They also wrote that some of the "weak" backs could be switched out (Daily Charlotte Observer, October 27th, 1893, p. 4).

The game against Guilford turned out to be the Charlotte team's first win. It was during this game that Charlotte's team got the red and black colors. The game started at 4:15 PM, and was "exciting from the first 'rush.'" Charlotte's inaugural touchdown was scored on a 35-yard run by Thompson, with the goal kicked by Hutchinson. The remainder of the first half saw little action other than Charlotte fumbling but recovering the ball.

Guilford started with the ball in the second half and got a touchdown "by a series of centre and tackle rushes," but it was not reported that Guilford scored on the subsequent kick. Adams then made a 30-yard touchdown for the Charlotte YMCA team, with Hutchinson again successfully making the kick. Later in the game, Charlotte is reported as scoring two points, but I believe this was a typo, and was supposed to read that Charlotte gained two yards. Making that assumption, the teams agreed on non-standard scoring rules, making each touchdown 5 points and each kick after touchdown 1 point each, resulting in a normally-impossible score of 12-11. Assuming the two points were meant to count, the addition of points would not work out correctly.

While the Charlotte papers did admit that this was the first "match game" ever played by Guilford, they gave high praise to the Charlotte team, writing that Thompson was "unapproachable" and that Adams' run was "one of the best ever on a field." Also of note was that Davidson sent down a contingent to watch the game and cheer (Daily Charlotte Observer, November 5th, 1893, p. 6).

There had been a third game planned to be played in Charlotte for 1893--a match between local Charlotte men to be played on November 23rd--but it was first postponed and then apparently canceled due to rain. The match would have raised money for a local orphanage known as the Thompson Orphanage (Daily Charlotte Observer, November 17th, 1893, p. 4; Daily Charlotte Observer, November 22nd, 1893, p. 4; Daily Charlotte Observer, November 22nd, 1893, p. 4).

The Charlotte team did not start again until late in the 1894 season, waiting "until the college men came home for the holidays." The only game played that year by Charlotte's team was against a team from Columbia. The game was arranged around December 13th for the week around Christmas. Unlike in the previous year, Charlotte's team had the benefit of "a large degree" of college students on their team, including three UNC students and Alexander of A&M. The Red and Black of Charlotte defeated Columbia's Navy Blue and Orange team in Charlotte 32-0. The game began at 3 PM, with snow "falling thick and fast," with the boys reportedly promising to play even if they "perished in a snowdrift on the grounds." Despite the cold weather, a "pretty good sized crowd" watched the game. Columbia won the toss and kicked the ball away; Charlotte scored 2 minutes later, but missed the kick due to high winds.

Charlotte's domination continued throughout the game, with Columbia never getting "within speaking distance" of the goal. Charlotte scored a second time in the half, again missing the kick, leaving the score at 8-0. Charlotte ran away with the game in the second half, scoring 24 straight points, including two successful kicks (Daily Charlotte Observer, December 13th, 1894, p. 1; Daily Charlotte Observer, December 18th, 1894, p. 2; Daily Charlotte Observer, December 20th, 1894, p. 4; Daily Charlotte Observer, December 21st, 1894, p. 4; Daily Charlotte Observer, December 29th, 1894, p. 4).

Charlotte's team played no other games that year, ending on their crushing, snow-covered win over Columbia.

The game was also Charlotte's first of the year. The game was not formally announced in any papers until the day before the game, on October 25th. A&M arrived in Charlotte at some point on the night of the 25th, having just been demolished by VMI and perhaps playing two other games whose details may have been lost to history; the team was in rough shape. Despite that, Charlotte was described as "greatly hampered by lack of training." To counteract this, they borrowed "two or three loans from neighboring teams": namely, Eugene Snipes, of UNC's 1894 team, and another two unnamed players who weighed 220 and 240 lbs, respectively. These loans would play the three central linemen on Charlotte's team. Davidson College also "loaned" the Charlotte team Pope and Brown, plus two more players (named Matthis and Steele) as backups (The Sampson Democrat, November 28th, 1895, p. 4; The Morning Star, December 31st, 1895, p. 1).

The Charlotte papers were unoptimistic about the Red and Black's chances of winning; writing that the Farmers were expected to win, but that "there is grim talk among the local men about making them hustle to do it" (Daily Charlotte Observer, October 25th, 1895, p. 4). Another report said of Charlotte's team that "Individually the team is a good one... but in their present condition they can only be expected to make a creditable showing" (Charlotte Daily Observer, October 26th, 1895, p. 4).

The game was reportedly somewhat of a let-down in several ways, though "gentlemanly... on both sides." Despite reportedly having nearly 200 people show up for the game against Columbia in the freezing cold and snow the year before, the size of the crowd at Latta Park was "to be regretted." Additionally, few plays of note took place.

The summary of the game was very brief. Charlotte's team had reportedly not played together in 1895 before this game, and as a result, "[their] interference was not the best."

Charlotte won the toss and chose to receive a kick from A&M and to defend the south goal. Alexander kicked off for A&M, and Graham returned it for Charlotte, making a short run before being taken down. Adams and Brown drove the ball for Charlotte, gaining between 2 and 5 yards each time, making their gains through the center, using their "donated" players to their full advantage. Charlotte then was awarded 25 yards because of a foul on A&M for a "foul tackle"; the foul brought Charlotte to A&M's 25-yard line. The Red and White's line buckled down, though, and prevented Charlotte from scoring, gaining posession of the ball from a turnover on downs.

A&M followed a similar trend to Charlotte, making a steady series of short gains around the edge of the line until they received a foul for a foul tackle themselves. This foul brought A&M to Charlotte's 30. From there, Alexander and Wooten made some gains through the center of Charlotte's line, and ultimately A&M lost the ball on a third-down fumble. Mahan recovered the fumble for Charlotte, and though Charlotte "made several gains through center." Unfortunately for the residents of the Queen City, the half expired before Charlotte could cross the goal line.

The second half started with Brown kicking the ball to A&M, where it was returned by Wooten, who ran out of bounds before being tackled. The ball was advanced "By a series of hard plays" towards Charlotte's goal line, but here A&M failed to convert on downs and lost the ball. Though it is unclear if this was a second, seperate drive, or the result of the first one, A&M lost the ball on Charlotte's 10-yard line. The game ended a few minutes later, the score tied 0-0, with the ball still in Charotte's posession.

The local Charlotte paper explained A&M's loss by saying that "several of [A&M's] best players were disabled" and that the college team hadn't slept much over the course of the last 3 days (Daily Charlotte Observer, October 27th, 1895, p. 6). The Raleigh papers agreed, writing that "the team was in no condition to play" (The Press-Visitor, October 28th, 1895, p. 1). Both papers also referred to the teams gruelling schedule over the last few days, alluding that there may have been more games played in Atlanta that have not been officially recorded.

The only other game played by Charlotte's football team in 1895 was against a team from Wilmington. The Wilmington team wrote to Charlotte around November 7th, requesting that Charlotte come to Wilmington to play a game for Thanksgiving. The Wilmingtonians drove a hard bargain, offering to pay all of the travel expenses, hotel fees, and train tickets, in addition to other incurred costs, but the Charlotte team was forced to decline; unfortunately, "only a few of them could get off" for the match (Daily Charlotte Observer, November 7th, 1895, p. 4).

For a while, that game seemed to be the end of things. In late November, though, it was announced that the game would take place in Charlotte on December 15th (The Wilmington Messenger, November 30th, 1895, p. 4). Whether this was a typo of the 25th or the original game was intended for the 15th is not clear, but the next announcement in either Charlotte or Wilmington for the game came on December 21st, with the game scheduled to be on Christmas (The Morning Star, December 21st, 1895, p. 1). A Charlotte paper predicted that it would be "one of the most interesting games that has ever been played" in Charlotte, despite Charlotte's team re-starting practice again for the first time on December 23rd (Daily Charlotte Observer, December 24th, 1895, p. 1; Daily Charlotte Observer, December 22nd, 1895, p. 6).

Both teams used men who were home for Christmas. Wilmington, whose colors were now purple and orange, had Vick and Wooten from A&M's team, while Charlotte had Alexander and Hunter. The game was played at 2:30 PM on Christmas day of 1895; the weather was reported to be "slightly too warm" for football playing by the Wilmington papers (Daily Charlotte Observer, December 25th, 1895, p. 4; The Morning Star, December 27th, 1895, p. 1). The teams reportedly agreed to play under Harvard-Pennsylvania-Cornell rules with 25-minute halves.

The game started with Wilmington kicking off to Charlotte; there, Alexander ran the ball back to about the midfield. Charlotte slowly advanced the ball up the field, losing the ball once briefly to Wilmington for failing to convert the required 5 yards in 3 downs, but soon getting the ball back. The game was temporarily paused in the first half for an injury to Charlotte's Rogers, but once play resumed, the Red and Black continued to steadily advance the ball until Adams made a touchdown. Reportedly, "the touch-down really belonged to Alexander, and in justice to him we must say he should have had the ball." Hunter missed the goal for Charlotte and the score stood 4-0 in favor of Charlotte. The remainder of the first half was uneventful, with Wilmington's Hatch kicking off and Rogers receiving the kick. The half ended with Charlotte posessing the ball around midfield.

At the start of the second half, Graham kicked off for Charlotte, with Hatch receiving the kick. Just a few plays into the second half, time was again paused because Wilmington's Holland got "slightly hurt." Charlotte got the ball again by a turnover on downs, but kicked the ball down the field after they failed to convert as well. Wooten, for Wilmington, fumbled the ball, though, where it was recovered by Charlotte. Again, though, Wilmington's line prevented a first down from Charlotte, and turned the ball back over to Wilmington. After a series of small, steady gains by Wilmington, time was again paused for an injury, this time to Charlotte's Brenizer. Hatch eventually scored a touchdown for Wilmington, and successfully made the goal kick, putting the score to 6-4 in favor of Wilmington. The remainder of the second half was mostly uneventful, other than a 25-yard penalty given to Charlotte for a foul tackle that Wilmington's players strongly disagreed with but begrudgingly accepted. A second incident of note from the second half was that Wilmington's Sawyer, who had gotten injured at some point in the game but played on "pluckily" nonetheless, became "thoroughly exhausted and unable to stand"; Sawyer was carried off the field and replaced by Sinclair.

The game was extremely violent compared to any of the other games highlighted up to this point in A&M's football history. "Four of Wilmington's players were filled with red fluid when the game ended," and of Charlotte, Chase Adams received a "terrible lick in the eye" that required several stitches, and Walter Brem, Jr. split his lip "almost in two" (Daily Charlotte Observer, December 27th, 1895, p. 4). Wilmington used the win, though, to claim the title of second best team in the state, behind only UNC, reasoning that because Charlotte had tied A&M and Wilmington had earlier in the season defeated UNC's scrub team 8-4, they were better than any other team in the area (The Morning Star, December 31st, 1895, p. 1).