OUR ELUSIVE CAMP OLDEN BORDERS

CAMP OLDEN
By Tom Glover
Definitive information on Camp Olden has proven to be quite elusive. The exact boundaries of Camp Olden are not known. However, the area surrounding the intersection of Hamilton Avenue and Liberty Street is the location of at least a portion of the camp. According to an un-dated article from the local press, the camp contained 68 acres. What is known is that at least a portion of the camp extended from Hamilton-Liberty-Johnston area eastward along Pond Run, including the land on both sides of the creek. A number of lead “mini-balls” have been unearthed in the open fields in the area.
That Camp Olden was located in the Hamilton-Liberty-Johnston Avenue area is borne out in this Civil War veteran’s reunion notice from a 1905 article in the Trenton "Daily State Gazette:
“The members of Aaron Wilkes Post, G.A.R., held an outing at Henry Lawton’s Farm, Hamilton Township yesterday. The farm was known as Camp Olden during the Civil War, and many companies of New Jersey regiments were recruited there. The members of the Women’s Relief Corps No. 7 participated in the outing. There were about 100 persons present.
Prior to 1905, the land was in the hands of the Steward family, as evidenced by this extract from the year 1892:
“Seventeen properties of the Jonathan Steward estate were disposed of at public sale by Assignee George W. Whittaker, for fair prices in the Board of Trade rooms yesterday afternoon. J.H. Cotton was the auctioneer, and ex-judge William M. Lanning announced the conditions of sale and dimensions of the properties. A large number of prominent business and professional men were present the bidding was both active and interesting,
The first property offered for sale was the undivided one third interest in the Camp Olden Farm, comprising about 68 and three quarters acres, a small two story frame dwelling and barn, located in Hamilton township, near Pond Run, and fronting on the easterly side of the road leading from Pond Run to Lamberton. (Note: “The road leading from Pond Run to Lamberton” would be today’s Liberty Street, which terminates at Lalor Street, a few blocks south of what was the area of South Trenton then known as “Lamberton.”
The barn referred to is very possibly the building which we neighborhood kids thought was haunted. It was located off Hamilton Avenue, near the Ward Avenue intersection. There were two mortgages on the Camp Olden property, amounting to $1,400. It was purchased by A.G. Richey for $1,600.
Apparently the Camp Olden Farm was originally in the hands of the Steward family; another clue to location of the camp. It is logical to assume that Steward Avenue was named for the family.
Henry Lawton probably purchased a parcel of the land from the sale described above, or from a real estate speculator at a later date. The Lawton’s owned substantial acreage in the Hamilton Avenue area. (Lawton Avenue). In 1908, the Lawton family sold the land on which Kuser School is built to the township of Hamilton. Somewhere in my collection is a copy of a hand-written receipt, signed by Mr. Lawton, acknowledging sale of the property for one dollar.
New Jersey citizens flocked to the colors when the Civil War broke out in 1861. There’s an interesting local story that certainly bears re-telling. One of New Jersey’s noted military organizations was the First New Jersey Brigade, under the command of Phillip P. Kearny. The Brigade fought bravely in the war between the states.
Among the local citizens who were part of the brigade were the very same Henry Lawton referred to above. Lawton was one of a company of Trenton area men who joined the New Jersey Brigade. He was one of many English-born potters who worked at the City Pottery, then located on Perry Street, along
the canal. As a point of reference, the canal crossed Perry Street at about the same juncture as today’s Trenton Freeway. Lawton and his fellow potters were immediately sent out to Camp Olden to be mustered into military service, and became known as the “Potter’s Company.”
Prior to the opening of Camp Perrine, Camp Olden served as the mustering in location for the first nine regiments of Jersey troops to go to war. In an interview in 1910, Henry Lawton said that there were more “three month men” mustered in at Camp Olden than at any other camp in New Jersey.
Camp Olden was named in honor of Charles Smith Olden, who was the twenty first governor of the state, having served from 1860 to 1863. For some reason, historical data on the camp is very elusive. However, confusion over at least a portion of the camp has been established; thanks to various articles which appeared in the local papers during the first twenty years of the twentieth century.
Following is an extract from a “Trenton State Gazette” article from 1922. It tells of a reunion which Henry Lawton, his brother Joseph, and John P. Beech attended, as members of the Grand Army of the Republic:
Henry Lawton, along with Joseph Lawton and John P. Beech, and two other Civil War veterans, who served as members of the “Potter’s Company,” tried to place an historical marker on the site on which they received their initial training as Union soldiers. Unfortunately, the project never came to fruition. The following appeared in the Trenton State Gazette, September 11, 1922:
“As the Wilbur section of the city can boast of no memorials, it is believed that what historic association there is to offer should at least be of interest to the residents and an asset to the section. The plan to mark the site of Camp Olden is not a new one, a project to the same effect was brought up a number of years ago before the members of the G.A.R. by Henry Lawton, who is a member of Aaron Wilkes Post.”
There was an interest in the project for a time, but it gradually died away, through the lack of support among the members of the veterans’ association. During the reunion of 1910, the matter was again brought up by Mr. Lawton before his associates; this time with support from the residents who lived in the area. Once again the effort failed.
Henry Lawton’s Plans called for the creation of a small park in the center of Johnston Avenue. He envisioned it as being oblong in shape, and running from Johnston Avenue to Hamilton Avenue, and continuing toward Liberty Street. His plans included a landscaped plot of land fronting on Hamilton Avenue, with a huge boulder of plain granite marker with a bronze tablet marking the location of the camp.
HENRY LAWTON
Henry Lawton was wounded and captured at the battle of Gaines Mills on June 27, 1862. He was held captive at the notorious Libby Prison in Richmond, also spending some time as a prisoner at Pemberton Prison and the Confederate prison at Bell Island, all in the Richmond area. After spending an unspecified length of time in the aforementioned prisons, Lawton was repatriated with 2,000 Yanks in exchange for a like number of Rebels. Upon his release, he was sent to General McClellan’s headquarters at Harrison’s Landing, where he was re-outfitted and returned to his comrades in the “Potter’s Company.”