December 4 is the 338th day of the year (339th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 27 days remain until the end of the year.
771 - Austrasian king Carloman I dies, leaving his brother Charlemagne as sole king of the Frankish Kingdom 1110 - An army led by Baldwin I of Jerusalem and Sigurd the Crusader of Norway captures Sidon at the end of the First Crusade 1259 - Kings Louis IX of France and Henry Ill of England agree to the Treaty of Paris, in which Henry renounces his claims to Frenchcontrolled territory on continental Europe (including Normandy) in exchange for Louis withdrawing his support for English rebels.
1619 - Thirty-eight colonists arrive at Berkeley Hundred, Virginia. The group's charter proclaims that the day 'be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.'
1623 - 50 Christians are executed in Edo, Japan, during the Great Martyrdom of Edo 1676 - The Battle of Lund, becomes the bloodiest battle in Scandinavian history.
1745 - Charles Edward Stuart's army reaches Derby, its furthest point during the Second Jacobite Rising.
1783 - At Fraunces Tavern in New York City, U.S. General George Washington bids farewell to his officers.
1786 - Mission Santa Barbara is dedicated (on the feast day of Saint Barbara).
1791 - The first edition of The Observer, the world's first Sunday newspaper, is published.
1804 - The United States House of Representatives adopts articles of impeachment against Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase.
1861 - American Civil War: The 109 electors of the several states of the Confederate States of America unanimously elect Jefferson Davis as President and Alexander H. Stephens as Vice President.
1863 - American Civil War: Confederate General James Longstreet lifts his unsuccessful siege of Knoxville, Tennessee 1864 - American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Union cavalry forces defeat Confederate cavalry in the Battle of Waynesboro, Georgia, opening the way for General William T. Sherman's army to burn its way to the coast.
1865 - North Carolina ratifies 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, followed two days later by Georgia, and U.S. slaves were legally free within two weeks.
1867 - Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (better known today as the Grange).
1872 - The American brigantine Mary Celeste is discovered drifting in the Atlantic. Her crew is never found