Historical Events in 1838

Jan 6 Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail demonstrate their telegraph machine in New Jersey

Jan 8 Rebellion at Amherstburg, Ontario breaks out
Jan 11 First public demonstration of telegraph message sent using dots & dashes at Speedwell Ironworks, Morristown, New Jersey by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail
Jan 26 Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States
Feb 16 Kentucky passes law permitting women to attend school under conditions
Feb 16 Weenen Massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, Natal are killed by Zulu warriors
Feb 25 London pedestrian walks 20 miles backward then forward in 8 hours
Feb 28 Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Québec)
Mar 3 Rebellion at Pelee Island, Ontario, Canada
Mar 6 Franz Grillparzer's "Weh dem, der Lugt" premieres in Vienna
Mar 8 US mint in New Orleans begins operation (producing dimes)
Apr 8 Steamship "Great Western" makes her maiden voyage from Bristol, England, to New York
Apr 9 UK National Gallery re-opens in its new dedicated building in Trafalgar Square, London
Apr 22 English steamship "Sirius" docks in NYC after crossing the Atlantic, first transatlantic steam passenger service
Apr 23 English steamship "Great Western" crossing Atlantic docks in NYC

Apr 27 Fire destroys half of Charleston
Apr 30 Nicaragua declares independence from Central American federation
Jun 10 Myall Creek Massacre in Australia: 28 Aboriginal Australians are murdered
Jun 12 Hopkins Observatory, dedicated in Williamstown, Massachusetts
Jun 12 Iowa Territory forms with Burlington as its capital

Jun 28 Coronation of Queen Victoria in Westminster Abbey, London
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Jul 4 Iowa Territory is organised from Wisconsin Territory, lasting until 1846
Jul 4 Huskar Colliery Mining Disaster in Silkstone England: mining pit floods drown 26 children, leads to 1842 'Mines and Collieries Act' bans women and children working underground
Jul 7 Central American federation is dissolved
Jul 8 Arabs attack Jewish community of Safed
Aug 1 Apprenticeship system abolished in most of the British Empire. Former slaves no longer indentured to former owners.

Aug 18 United States Exploring Expedition headed by Charles Wilkes departs for the Pacific Ocean and Antarctica

Aug 29 Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm announce their intention to publish a German Dictionary, eventually completed in 1961, after 123 years

Sep 3 Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery disguised as a sailor

Sep 5 Central Museum opens in Utrecht Netherlands
Sep 10 Hector Berlioz' opera "Benvenuto Cellini" premieres in Paris
Sep 18 Anti-Corn Law League established by Richard Cobden
Sep 19 Ephraim Morris patents railroad brake
Sep 24 Anti-Corn-Law League forms to repeal English Corn Law
Oct 1 Civil Code enforced (- Jan 1, 1992)
Oct 27 Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state or be exterminated.
Nov 3 The Times of India, world's largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce
Nov 5 Honduras declares independence of Central American Federation

Nov 8 Victor Hugo's "Ruy Blas" premieres in Paris

Nov 30 Mexico declares war on France
Dec 16 Battle of Blood River: Zulu impis defeated by Voortrekkers in South Africa (Great Trek)