Bristol, Rhode Island

Bristol is a town in Rhode Island, and the county seat of Bristol County. As of 2000 the population is 22,469. Bristol is situated on 10.1 square miles of a penninsula between Narragansett Bay[?] on the west and Cape Hope Bay on the east. Bristol is a deep water port, and was named after Bristol, England.

The area's first importance in the history of New England was as the center of an Indian resistence known as King Philip's War[?]. After that war the town was settled in 1680 as a part of the Plymouth Colony. It remained a part of Massachusetts until the crown transferred it the the Rhode Island colony in 1747.

During the American Revolutionary War the British Navy bombarded Bristol twice. On October 7, 1775 a group of ships, led by Captain Wallace and HMS Rose shelled the town with some damage. The attack was stopped when Lieutenant Governor Bradford rowed out to the Rose to negotiate a cease fire. A second attack on May 25, 1778 partly destroyed the town.