The CSS Albemarle, an ironclad ram, was one of the Confederacy's most successful ironclads. This vessel and its sister ship, the CSS Neuse, were designed to seize control of North Carolina's sounds from the Federal forces that had dominated the region since early 1862.

Construction of the ironclad, Ram Albemarle, began in a cornfield at Edward's Ferry on the Roanoke River in January 1863. It was moved up the Roanoke River to Halifax and ironclad by a free Black blacksmith.