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.[1]
September 3 – Dressed in a sailor's uniform and carrying identification papers provided by a free Black seaman, future abolitionistFrederick 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 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.
^Kettley, Marlene C.; Garr, Arnold K.; Manscill, Craig K. (2006). "Quincy, Illinois: A Temporary Refuge, 1838–39". Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
Media related to 1838 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons