1838

Events from the year **1838 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Arthur P. Bagby (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: James Sevier Conway (Democratic)
* Governor of Connecticut: Henry W. Edwards (Democratic) (until May 2), William W. Ellsworth (Whig) (starting May 2)
* Governor of Delaware: Cornelius P. Comegys (Whig)
* Governor of Georgia: George R. Gilmer (Whig)
* Governor of Illinois: Joseph Duncan (Whig) (until December 7), Thomas Carlin (Democratic) (starting December 7)
* Governor of Indiana: David Wallace (Whig)
* Governor of Kentucky: James Clark (Whig)
* Governor of Louisiana: Edward Douglass White Sr. (Whig)
* Governor of Maine:
	+ until January 3: Robert P. Dunlap (Democratic)
	+ January 3-January 19: vacant
	+ starting January 19: Edward Kent (Whig)
* Governor of Maryland: Thomas W. Veazey (Whig)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Edward Everett (Whig)
* Governor of Michigan: Stevens T. Mason (Democratic)
* Governor of Mississippi: Charles Lynch (Democratic) (until January 8), Alexander G. McNutt (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Missouri: Lilburn W. Boggs (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Isaac Hill (Democratic)
* Governor of New Jersey: William Pennington (Whig)
* Governor of New York: William L. Marcy (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: Edward Bishop Dudley (Whig)
* Governor of Ohio: Joseph Vance (Whig) (until December 13), Wilson Shannon (Democratic) (starting December 13)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Joseph Ritner (Anti-Masonic)
* Governor of Rhode Island: John Brown Francis (Democratic) (until May 2), William Sprague III (Democratic) (starting May 2)
* Governor of South Carolina: Pierce Mason Butler (Democratic) (until December 7), Patrick Noble (Democratic) (starting December 7)
* Governor of Tennessee: Newton Cannon (Whig)
* Governor of Vermont: Silas H. Jennison (Whig)
* Governor of Virginia: David Campbell (Democratic)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Ebenezer Stoddard (Democratic-Republican) (until May 2), Charles Hawley (Whig) (starting May 2)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: William H. Davidson (Democratic) (until December 7), Stinson Anderson (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: David Hillis (Whig)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Charles A. Wickliffe (Democratic-Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: George Hull (Whig)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Franklin Cannon (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: John Tracy (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Benjamin Babock Thurston (political party unknown) (until May 2), Joseph Childs (political party unknown) (starting May 2)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: William DuBose (Democratic) (until December 7), Barnabas Kelet Henagan (Democratic) (starting December 7)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: David M. Camp (Whig)

## Events

### January - March

* January 6 – Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrates the telegraph.
* January 8 – Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
* January 12 – History of the Latter Day Saint movement: Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon flee Ohio for Missouri.
* January 27 – Abraham Lincoln speaks at the Springfield Young Men's Lyceum.
* March 8 – The New Orleans Mint strikes its first coinage, 30 dimes.

### April - June

* May 2 – Trail of Tears: The Cherokee removal begins with the forced relocation of the Cherokee Native American tribe, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 4,000 Cherokee Indians.
* June 12 – Iowa Territory is created. At the time of its founding, Iowa Territory encompassed parts of modern-day Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, as well as all of Iowa. The river city of Burlington functions as the territorial capital until 1841.

### July - September

* July 3 – Iowa Territory is effective.
* September 3 – Dressed in a sailor's uniform and carrying identification papers provided by a free Black seaman, future abolitionist Frederick Douglass boards a train in Maryland on his way to freedom from slavery.
* September 4 – Potawatomi Trail of Death, the forced relocation of 859 members of the Potawatomi nation from Indiana to Kansas, begins. More than 40 Potawatomi die from disease and the stress of the march.

### October - December

* October 5 – Killough massacre, believed to have been both the largest and last Native American attack on white settlers in East Texas; 18 casualties are either killed or carried away.
* October 16 – Grave Creek Stone, a probable hoax, allegedly discovered in Moundsville, West Virginia.
* October 27 – Governor of Missouri Lilburn Boggs issues Missouri Executive Order 44 (the "Extermination Order"), ordering the expulsion of all Mormons from the state. This winter, Mormons fleeing this persecution are welcomed in Quincy, Illinois.
* November 4 – Survivors of the Potawatomi Trail of Death arrive at the modern-day site of Osawatomie, Kansas.

## Memoriam

* January 12 – Joshua Humphreys, naval architect (aged 86; Haverford, PA, USA)
* January 30 – Osceola, a leader of the Seminole during the Second Seminole War (aged 34; Fort Moultrie, SC, USA)
* March 7 – Robert Townsend, member of the Culper Spy Ring (aged 84; Oyster Bay, NY, USA)
* March 16 – Nathaniel Bowditch, mathematician (aged 64; Boston, MA, USA)
* August 1 – John Rodgers, naval officer (aged 66; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* August 19 – James Geddes, engineer, surveyor, New York State legislator and U.S. Congressman (aged 75; Salina, NY, USA)
* September 1 – William Clark, explorer (aged 68; St. Louis, MO, USA)
* October 3 – Black Hawk, a leader of the Sauk people (aged 71; Davis County, IA Territory, USA)
* October 17 – Nathan Sanford, U.S. Senator from New York from 1815 to 1821 and from 1826 to 1831 (aged 60; New York City, NY, USA)
* October 23 – Joseph Lancaster, English-born Quaker educationist (aged 59; New York City, NY, USA)