BRISTOL, a town of the United States, the capital of a county in Rhode Island, is situated on a peninsula between Narraganset Bay and Mount Hope Bay, 16 miles S.E. of Providence by rail. Its trade and manufactures are considerable, but it is chiefly important as a summer watering-place. There is direct steamboat communication with Providence and New York. During the War of Independence the town was nearly destroyed by the English. Population in 1S70, 5302.