From Annapolis, the regiment set out with Ulysses S. Grant's campaign of 1864; when in May of that year it lost 7 men killed, and 39 wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness. On May 12, 1864, the 17th Michigan was actively engaged in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, and charged the southern Confederate works at Spotsylvania Court House. In this charge the regiment lost 23 killed, 73 wounded and 93 taken prisoner. The loss in prisoners was owing to the regiment being surrounded by a greatly superior force under the command of Longstreet.
