Remey was born at Burlington, Iowa, and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1859. Initially assigned to the sloop USS Hartford on the Asiatic Station, he returned to the United States with the outbreak of the Civil War and served in the gunboat Marblehead during the Peninsular Campaign, March–July 1862; and, afterward, in the blockade of Charleston. In April 1863 he assumed duties as Executive Officer in the screw sloop Canandaigua and during attacks on Fort Wagner briefly commanded Marblehead. From 23 August to 7 September, he commanded a battery of naval guns on Morris Island, and on the night of 7–8 September led the second division of a boat attack on Fort Sumter. The division made shore, but was smashed by gunfire. Remey and the surviving members of his party were forced