6th January » Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraphy known as telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
26th January » Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States
17th February » Weenen massacre: Hundreds of Voortrekkers along the Blaukraans River, KwaZulu-Natal Province known as Natal are killed by Zulu people e.g Zulus.
28th February » Robert Nelson (insurrectionist) or Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Quebec)
30th April » Nicaragua declares independence from the Central American Federation.
10th June » Myall Creek massacre: Twenty-eight Aboriginal Australians are murdered.
28th June » Coronation of Victoria of the United Kingdom.
15th July » Ralph Waldo Emerson delivers the Divinity School Address at Harvard Divinity School, discounting Biblical miracles and declaring Jesus a great man, but not God. The Protestant community reacts with outrage.
1st August » Non-laborer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated.
18th August » The United States Exploring Expedition e.g Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads.
3rd September » Future Abolitionism in the United States e.g abolitionist Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery.
18th September » The Anti-Corn Law League is established by Richard Cobden.
27th October » Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order (Mormonism) named Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state or be exterminated.
5th November » The Federal Republic of Central America begins to disintegrate when Nicaragua separates from the Federation.
Famous Birthdays in 1838
4th January » General Tom Thumb, American circus performer (d. 1883)
5th January » Camille Jordan, French mathematician (d. 1922)
6th January » Max Bruch, German composer and conductor (d. 1920)
16th January » Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)
6th February » Henry Irving, English actor (d. 1905)
6th February » Yisrael Meir Kagan, Lithuanian rabbi (d. 1933)
14th February » Margaret E. Knight, American inventor (d. 1914)
16th February » Henry Adams, American journalist, historian, and author (d. 1918)
18th February » Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist (d. 1916)
28th February » Maurice Lévy, French mathematician and engineer (d. 1910)
4th March » Paul Lacôme, French composer (d. 1920)
12th March » William Henry Perkin, English chemist (d. 1907)
15th March » Karl Davydov, Russian cellist, composer, and conductor (d. 1889)
2nd April » Léon Gambetta, French politician, 45th Prime Minister of France (d. 1882)
18th April » Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, French chemist (d. 1912)
21st April » John Muir, Scottish-American environmentalist and author (d. 1914)
28th April » Tobias Asser, Dutch lawyer and scholar, Nobel Peace Prize named Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1913)
10th May » John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1865)
11th May » Walter Goodman, English painter, illustrator, and author (d. 1912)
20th May » Jules Méline, French politician, 65th Prime Minister of France (d. 1925)
31st May » Henry Sidgwick, English economist and philosopher (d. 1900)
2nd June » Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Oldenburg (d. 1900)
16th June » Frederic Archer, English organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1901)
16th June » Cushman Kellogg Davis, American lieutenant and politician, 7th Governor of Minnesota (d. 1900)
27th June » Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Indian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1894)
27th June » Paul Mauser, German weapon designer, designed the Gewehr 98 (d. 1914)
6th July » Vatroslav Jagić, Croatian philologist and scholar (d. 1923)
8th July » Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and businessman, founded the Zeppelin named Zeppelin Airship Company (d. 1917)
20th July » Augustin Daly, American playwright and manager (d. 1899)
20th July » Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, English politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 1928)
23rd July » Édouard Colonne, French violinist and conductor (d. 1910)
13th November » Joseph F. Smith, American religious leader, 6th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1918)
14th November » August Šenoa, Croatian author, poet, and critic (d. 1881)
23rd November » Stephanos Skouloudis, Greek banker and politician, 97th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1928)
3rd December » Cleveland Abbe, American meteorologist (d. 1916)
3rd December » Octavia Hill, English activist and author (d. 1912)
7th December » Thomas Bent, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of Victoria (d. 1909)
11th December » John Labatt, Canadian brewer and businessman (d. 1915)
20th December » Edwin Abbott Abbott, English theologian, author, and educator (d. 1926)
30th December » Émile Loubet, French politician, 7th President of France (d. 1929)
Famous Deaths in History for 1838
13th January » Ferdinand Ries, German composer (b. 1784)
16th March » Nathaniel Bowditch, American captain and mathematician (b. 1773)
3rd April » François Carlo Antommarchi, French physician (b. 1780)
6th April » José Bonifácio de Andrada, Brazilian politician (b. 1763)
17th May » René Caillié, French explorer (b. 1799)
17th May » Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, French politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1754)
25th June » François-Nicolas-Benoît Haxo, French general and engineer (b. 1774)
19th July » Pierre Louis Dulong, French physicist and chemist (b. 1785)
17th August » Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian playwright and poet (b. 1749)
23rd August » Ferenc Kölcsey, Hungarian poet, critic, and politician (b. 1790)
1st September » William Clark (explorer) e.g William Clark, American soldier, explorer, and politician, 4th List of Governors of Missouri or Governor of Missouri Territory (b. 1770)
5th September » Charles Percier, French architect (b. 1764)
27th September » Bernard Courtois, French chemist and pharmacist (b. 1777)
1st October » Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist and businessman (b. 1768)
3rd October » Black Hawk (Sauk leader) named Black Hawk, American tribal leader (b. 1767)
14th December » Jean-Olivier Chénier, Canadian physician (b. 1806)