After emerging from their winter quarters at Culpeper on May 3, 1864, Sands and his fellow 88th Pennsylvanians were then assigned to Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign, during which they fought in the battles of Spotsylvania Court House (on May 8 and 12), North Anna (May 23), Totopotomoy Creek (May 26), and White Oak Swamp (June 12) before engaging with other Union troops in the Siege of Petersburg, during which time Sands and his regiment charged and routed the enemy from various entrenched positions while under heavy artillery and sharpshooter fire. Afterward, they continued to support siege operations.