1. In 1674, Mary Rowlandson, the Englishwoman who was captured by Native Americans during King Philip's War, was ransomed for £20 on December 4. She later wrote a memoir of her experiences, which became a popular account of captivity in colonial America.

2. On December 4, 1775, General George Washington ordered his troops to build fortifications on Dorchester Heights, which overlooked Boston Harbor. The action led to the British evacuation of Boston in March 1776, and was a turning point in the Revolutionary War.

3. The Boston Tea Party, a protest against British taxation on tea, took place on December 4, 1773. A group of colonists, led by the Sons of Liberty, disguised themselves as Native Americans and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.

4. On December 4, 1867, Boston's first streetcar pulled out of Bowdoin Square and made its way to Cambridge via the Longfellow Bridge. The streetcar, which was powered by horses, was the beginning of Boston's public transportation system.

5. The Massachusetts Armory in Springfield, which produced firearms for the United States military from 1777 to 1968, suffered a major explosion on December 4, 1917. The blast killed 11 people and injured over 200, and was caused by a fire in the building's fuse room.