page_title: Samuel Hinks
section_title: Baltimore mayoral election of 1856
hierarchical_section_title: Samuel Hinks / Politics / Baltimore mayoral election of 1856
context_page_description: Samuel Hinks was Mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, from 1854 to 1856. He was a member of the Know-Nothing party. He was succeeded in 1856 by fellow Know-Nothing Thomas Swann.
context_section_description: During the mid-1850s public order in Baltimore had been threatened by the election of candidates of the American Party. As the 1856 Mayoral elections approached, Hinks was pressed by Baltimorians to order the militia of General George H. Steuart in readiness to maintain order, as widespread violence was anticipated. Hinks duly gave Steuart the order to ready the militia, but he soon rescinded it. In the event, violence broke out on polling day, with shots exchanged by competing mobs.
  In the 2nd and 8th wards several citizens were killed, and many wounded. In the 6th ward artillery was used, and a pitched battle fought on Orleans St between gangs of Know Nothings and rival Democrats, raging for several hours. The result of the election, in which voter fraud was widespread, was a victory for the Know Nothing candidate, Thomas Swann, by around 9,000 votes. Swann duly succeeded Hinks as Mayor of Baltimore.
caption: Hinks's successor as Mayor of Baltimore, Thomas Swann.
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