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At 3:50 PM, on Thursday, November 16th, the Farmers left Raleigh on their second ever trip out of state. It was fairly common at the time for college football teams to do tours to parts of the country in which they did not live; going on one long trip saved on travel expenses and gave the teams a chance to test their skill against a new set of opponents. The Tar Heels took two tours in 1899, one to the North, to face the Navy team and Princeton (they lost both), and one to the South, to play Georgia and Sewanee. The 'Varsity also took a Southern tour in 1898, playing in Charlotte; Macon, Georgia; and Auburn. Naturally, as A&M's football team grew stronger and wanted to show their strengths, they organized a Southern tour as well.

The trip South was a big deal for A&M's football team. Since playing their first game in 1892, the Farmers had played just one out-of-state game, that game being a 6-42 whooping at the hands of Virginia Military Institute in 1895 in Atlanta, Georgia. But, as best as can be found in modern records, the Farmers played just one game in Georgia, making this their first ever true tour. The match between the Davidson team and the Farmers had been reported as "more than likely" as early as November 2nd in Charlotte; the arrangements for the tour were mentioned in Raleigh on November 7th, though initially the team had planned to travel the week of Thanksgiving. Though the team had originally hoped to include powerhouse Virginia, in additoin to Georgia, in their tour, the game never materialized, and the Red and White were left to partake in a rather brief tour of just two schools (Charlotte Daily Observer, November 2nd, 1899, p. 2; The (Raleigh) Morning Post, November 7th, 1899, p. 5; News and Observer, November 16th, 1899, p. 5; The Charlotte News, November 16th, 1899, p. 1).

Despite their recent tie with Guilford, the Farmers left the City of Oaks confident of their chances of success, with one paper writing that "The boys expect to win both of these game" scheduled on the trip. Upon leaving Raleigh, that was a pretty reasonable goal: to that point in the season, the Presbyterians had gone 0-3, losing 0-10 to both Clemson and North Carolina, and losing 6-2 to the Oak Ridge Institute. Clemson's record was an even 2-2, losing to Georgia 0-11 and Auburn 0-34, but defeating Davidson 10-0 and South Carolina 34-0. Clearly, the Tigers were capable of both winning big and losing big. Team manager F. D. Ross left the day before the team, while coach McKee traveled with the boys (The (Raleigh) Morning Post, November 16th, 1899, p. 5; The (Raleigh) Morning Post, November 17th, 1899, p. 1).

The cost of the game was 50 cents (about $16 in 2019), double the price of every other game A&M had charged for that season, but the same price as had been charged for the game between Davidson and North Carolina in Charlotte a few weeks earlier. Despite their poor season to that point, the Presbyterians were determined to pull off their first win of the season, running a "hard practice" on the Wednesday before the game against their scrub team, polishing up signals, and making some slight changes in their team's lineup (Daily Charlotte Observer, November 16th, 1899, p. 3). Charlotte papers predicted the teams would "prove about equally matched." The Farmers arrived in Charlotte around 10 PM on the night of the 16th, with the hopes that "an entire night's unbroken rest" would leave the Farmers "in excellent trim" (The Charlotte News, November 16th, 1899, p. 1).

Though the game was originally supposed to be called at 3 PM on the morning of the 17th, the game did not start until 3:30 PM. Though no explanation for the delay was given by the Charlotte media, a possible explanation could have been the hope that more spectators would show up to watch the game; the Observer sarcastically wrote "the attendance was not large enough to give the teams a [metaphorical] trip to the Paris Exposition," blaming the "scant notice" given to the Charlotteans and the fact that it was a school day.

The Farmers won the coin toss and elected to take the west goal of Latta Park, while Davidson took the ball to start and kicked off to A&M's 10-yard line, the Red and White advancing the ball 15 yards before being stopped. Raleigh started the game with a big 15-yard gain by an unnamed player, but then quickly lost the ball on downs after failing to make a second first down. On the third drive of the game, Paschall became injured and was replaced by Bunn. Hewett then carried the ball 15 yards for the Presbyterians, but his team also failed to convert a new set of downs and lost the ball. After again failing to make the requisite gains, Person kicked the ball away for A&M, but the Farmers got lucky; the Preachers fumbled the ball and Ramsey recovered his second fumble in two games.

Not wanting to change the pace of the game too much, A&M again failed to gain a new set of downs and returned the ball to the Red and Black. Davidson, matching those expectations, reacted likewise. Davidson was unable to make a first down, to the Farmers got the ball back; the Farmers lost possession of the ball after being called for holding; Davidson failed to reach the line of gain. Even after being given a free 10 yards on a Davidson offsiders, A&M failed to advance the ball, Person kicking it 25 yards away. After a few more short runs by Hewett, Steele, and Harrison, Leak made a 25-yard run, "one of the few long runs of the game." Despite the long run, the Presbyterians again stalled. Davidson tried to kick the ball away, but the Farmers blocked the kick; Davidson landed on the ball and thus retained possession. The Presbyterians lost the ball on downs soon thereafter nonetheless. The first of two 25-minute halves ended with the ball in the Farmers' hands at "about the middle of the field."

"After a brief rest and a few encouraging words from the coaches," both teams got back on the field. The Farmers kicked the ball about 35 yards. Harrison ran the ball 15 yards for Davidson, but Davidson then lost the ball on a fumble. After gaining a few more yards, the Red and White lost the ball "by holding it." After the ball switched hands one more time, Davidson strung together perhaps the first true drive of the day, pushing for about 35 yards in chunks of 5 or fewer yards each, save a 10-yard run by Hewett. However, Davidson kicked the ball away, the ball flying 30 yards further up field before the Raleigh team landed on it. The Red and White again failed to make a first down, turning the ball over to Davidson. At that point, Davidson took McClintock out and replaced him Wyman. After a 15-yard run by Leak, the Red and Black turned the ball over again on downs. The Farmers kicked the ball 30 yards further downfield immediately, where it was recovered by Davidson but immediately lost for holding.

At that point, the Farmers got their first real chance at scoring since the start of the game. Spurred on by a 20-yard run by Caserley, Person ran for 3 yards. Then, the Red and White fumbled, but recovered, the ball. After another 3 yard gain by Person, he "tried [an] end run, but stumbled and fell." From there, the Farmers attempted to kick a goal, which would have been worth 5 points had it gone in, but the kick went out of bounds, awarding Davidson a touchback. By rule, the ball was brought back to Davidson's 25-yard line, where Wyman delivered a kick off 40 yards. The Farmers returned the kick 10 yards and then kicked the ball 25 yards downfield. Time for the game was called with the ball on Davidson's 40 yard line.

Though several men were slightly injured in the game, "no one was seriously hurt," and the game was characterized as "clean and devoid of unnecessary roughness." In post-game summaries, it was claimed that "Davidson's men tackled better," but that the Farmers "played a better aggressive game." Leak was "the star of the game" for his few long runs, and the work of Osborne for the Red and Black was lauded. Charlotte papers promised that, despite the low turnout to the game, if the teams met in the Queen City again to "play off the tie," the city would "give these teams a large crowd." The game was played in two 25 minute halves.

After the game, both teams met at the Southern Manufacturers Club for a dinner hosted by D. A. Tompkins, prominent Charlotte businessman and owner of three cotton mills. There, over coffee and cigars, the two teams sat through speeches by prominent Charlotteans such as former mayor Capt. F. S. DeWolfe, Davidson professor William Joseph Martin, Jr., and even J. E. Ramsey, of the A&M team. The dinner ended around 10 PM that night (The Charlotte News, November 18th, 1899, p. 1; Charlotte Daily Observer, November 18th, 1899, p. 6; News and Observer, November 18th, 1899, p. 2).

An interesting, if inconsequential, story from the team's time in Charlotte is that team captain Will Person's mom, Mrs. Jo Person, was in Charlotte for the game but refused to watch the match itself. "I would not go to see him play, though," she said. "I knew if he should get hurt, I would break up the game, so I stayed away" (Charlotte Daily Observer, November 18th, 1899, p. 5). As it was, before the game Person reportedly had a lame knee which had healed enough to let him play in the game. Though not widely reported in the newspapers, Davidson's student paper reported that "Drop kicks from the field were tried by both teams, but without success" (Davidson College Magazine, Vol. XVI No. 3 (Dec. 1899), p. 159).

Davidson would to on to improve their record in the closing games of the season, beating South Carolina 5-0 just under two weeks later. Their scrub team would also win their lone game of the season, played on December 2nd against the Morganton Mutes. The Presbyterians' scrubs won 16-0, perhaps backing up the Davidsonians' claims that their scrub team was a strong one. The work of the Davidson football team was especially notable for two reasons. First and foremost, the team had no formal coaching whatsoever. Additionally, this was just the second year Davidson had put forward a football team, their 1898 team playing just two games, losing 0-11 to UNC and defeating South Carolina 6-0 (Quips and Cranks, 1899, p. 9; Quips and Cranks, 1900, p. 109).