McDowell's Asylum plantation journal, 1815-1833, contains a record of seasonal household moves between plantations, the sea shore, and various other properties, and notes joint purchases with neighboring planters J.W. Allston and R.O. Anderson. Substantive information on slave holdings is found in the journal through yearly lists of slaves and their allowances of food and clothing, records of slave "crimes and misdemeanors" and other notations shed light on punishments meted out to slaves accused of stealing or attempting to run away. A journal entry dated 24 Aug. 1831 reveals something of McDowell's style of plantation management, "Moses & Dowey came to me...this morn[in]g this day makes 4 weeks since the[y] went away. As they have come home themselves (agreeable to a Rule of the Plantation) they are not be whipped! But the[y] are to be deprived of all the Comforts of the Plantation: the[y] are to get no Summer cloths, Christmas: & as their offence appears to me of great enormity (my Crop being very grassy when the[y] went away) I think I will give them no winter cloths: Moses being a class leader is prohibited from Public Preaching for a year." A later journal entry, 9 Dec. 1831, alludes to legal action brought by McDowell following the unsanctioned whipping and confinement of one of his slaves. McDowell's plantation management appears to have been under the direct supervision of drivers, two of whom, Manza and Sam, are identified in the yearly lists of plantation slaves and are named often in journal entries. An entry from Feb. 1827 indicates that "the business of the Plantation went on under the sole direction of Manza" while McDowell was confined to his bed for more than three weeks with "a grievous sickness which the Doctor's called Epedimic." The sole reference to an overseer is an account of the discharge of Mr. McCarty in September 1830 for intoxication. Activities in politics and public life documented in the volume include McDowell's appointment as supervisor of Georgetown District elections (6 Oct. 1826 and 14 Oct. 1830); the Nullification controversy along with McDowell's comments on the Union convention and South Carolina's growing preoccupation with sectionalism and states rights (3 Dec. 1832); and McDowell's role as a bondsman in the trial of slaves accused of complicity in an abortive Georgetown insurrection (July 1829) . The journal contains detailed planting and crop records indicating the date when planting began, when planting was completed, when harvesting began, and when harvesting was completed. Although rice was McDowell's cash crop, subsistence farming was necessary to feed the many hands on Asylum. The journal denotes McDowell's careful attention to the cultivation of other crops such as corn, peas, potatoes, yams, and oats. As is typical with many plantation journals, the volume contains a systematic record of weather observations. McDowell's record is particularly interesting for meteorological prognostication for the coming year based upon the weather for the twelve days of Christmas.
