Mahlon
Harden

MAHLON HARDEN was born in New Jersey around 1840. A carpenter by trade, he served his nation during the Civil War, as a Private in Company B, 3rd New Jersey Infantry Regiment. He enlisted on May 25, 1861. 

The Third Infantry Regiment, raised under authority of General Orders No. 15 of May 4, 1861, was fully organized, equipped and officered by May 18, and on June 4 was duly mustered into the U. S. service for three years, at Camp Olden, Trenton. It left the state on June 28, with a full complement of men--38 officers, 1,013 non-commissioned officers and privates, total, 1,051. It was assigned to Gen. Kearny's brigade, with the 1st, 2nd and 4th N. J., composing the 1st New Jersey brigade. Immediately after the first battle of Bull Run it joined the 1st and 2nd regiments near Alexandria, having been stationed at Fairfax during the engagement. It was among the first to come into direct collision with the pickets of the enemy and to suffer loss in its ranks from Confederate bullets at Munson's hill. 

On March 9, 1862, the 2nd and 3d, with a squadron of the Lincoln cavalry, occupied Sangster's Station, on the Orange & Alexandria railroad, the 4th acting as a support to the advance. On the following day the brigade moved cautiously forward and at 10 o'clock in the morning entered the abandoned works at Manassas Junction--eight companies of the 3d being the first to take possession and hoist the regimental flag. At West Point, Va., the brigade relieved the troops in advance on the evening of May 6, 1862, and the men lay on their arms in line of battle until daylight, when they were ordered forward, the 3d regiment being on the skirmish line. At Gaines' mill the brigade was formed in two lines, the 3d and 4th in front, and in that order advanced to the brow of a hill, where the 3d, under Lt. Col. Henry Brown, was ordered into the woods to relieve Newton's brigade, which was sorely pressed by the enemy. The gallant regiment stood its ground, opening a galling fire on the enemy and remaining in the woods until the close of the action, with a loss of 34 killed, 136 wounded and 45 missing. 

Later during 1862 the regiment participated in the battles of Charles City cross-roads, Malvern Hill, Manassas, Chantilly, Crampton's gap and Antietam, and also in the movement against Fredericksburg in December. 

In the spring of 1863 the regiment took part in the movements of Hooker in the vicinity of Fredericksburg and fought at Salem church. In the Gettysburg campaign the brigade, which prior to that movement had been in various apparently aimless marches in Virginia, was attached to Wright's division of the 6th corps. Following the Gettysburg fight the regiment was engaged at Fairfield, Pa., Williamsport and Funkstown, Md., Rappahannock Station and Mine Run, Va. 

With brigade commander Col. Torbert being assigned to the command of a cavalry division, Col. Brown, of the 3d, temporarily took charge of the brigade, to which the 10th regiment was added before the grand advance under Grant. In all the operations in the Wilderness the Jerseymen behaved with the greatest steadiness. At the opening of the fight at Spottsylvania, after some playing at cross-purposes, the 3d and 15th regiments were advanced, the former under Capt. Dubois deployed as skirmishers, and the latter under Col. Campbell acting as a support. On May 12, 1864 the brigade was massed for a charge--the 3d being in the second line-and pushed forward through the woods until within 100 yards of the Confederate works. In the first eleven days of Grant's campaign against Richmond the 3d regiment sustained the following losses: Killed 21, wounded 102, missing 33. After fighting at the North Anna river, Hanover Court House, Totopotomoy creek and Cold Harbor, the 3d left the front on June 3 and reached the New Jersey state capital on the night of the 7th. 

Many of the men who served with the 3rd mustered out at that point, including Mahlon Harden, who was discharged on June 24, 1864. He returned to Camden, and resumed work as a carpenter. By 1870 he had wed, and with wife Matilda had one son by the time of the 1870 Census, named Walter. This child sadly would nut survive the 1870s. By this time he was already engaged in building homes in Camden. He soon ventured into contracting to build large projects, and by the mid-1870s was one of Camden's most prominent builders. 

When the census was taken in 1880, Mahlon Harden lived with his wife Matilda at 434 Liberty Street. The hardens then had three children, Mary E., 9, Mahlom, 4, and Henry, 1 year of age.

George Reeser Prowell wrote of Mahlon Harden in 1886:

"M.E. Harden has built over six hundred dwellings of different kinds and sizes, from the largest to the smallest, about fifty stores and offices, three sash and door mills, the Keystone Chemical Company’s building, three churches- First Presbyterian, Third Baptist, and Sacred Heart,- also the E.A. Stevens School, the  Mickle School, Mulford School, and Richard Fetters School, and the colored school building [known as the Ferry Road Colored School- PMC] in the Eighth Ward."   

It perhaps is a testament to Mahlon Harden's skill as a builder that two of his projects remain not only standing but in active use today, in 2004- Sacred Heart Church at Broadway and Ferry Avenue, the Richard Fetters School,, at Third and Walnut Streets, and rectory at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, at Broadway and Market Street.

Mahlon Harden served for a time on Camden's school board. He was also a member of the William Hatch Post No. 37 of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Civil War veterans organization.

Mahlon Harden was still living at 434 Liberty Street as late as 1890. On January 6, 1891, he filed for an Invalid Pension as a Civil War veteran.

Mahlon Harden passed away in 1907. His wife survived him, and filed for he Civil War widow's pension on August 30, 1907.  

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