 Near the end of the summer of 1863 the Third Michigan was detached to the Department of the East under General Dix and sent northward to New York City in late August to serve as a deterrent to the expected rioting in the upcoming draft in that state.The Regiment spent several days in New York City, the draft went off without event and the Third Michigan was sent up the Hudson River to Troy to oversee the draft in that city, where it remained for two weeks before it returned south to rejoin the Army of the Potomac.By early May 1864, the Army of the Potomac was again on the move in Virginia and the Third Michigan was hotly engaged on May 5–6 at the Wilderness and on May 11–12 at Spotsylvania Court House.