In 1861, Sands was transferred to the retired list, and he was promoted in retirement to Commodore in 1862 and Rear Admiral in 1866. He continued active duty, serving as Union lighthouse inspector on Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River during the Civil War, and as port admiral at Norfolk, Virginia from 1869 to 1872. Sands was first married in 1824 to Mary Stevens (1799–1825), daughter of the engineer and inventor John Stevens of Hoboken, New Jersey. She bore him one son before her death. In 1830, he married Mary's younger sister, Harriet Stevens (1801–1844). They had eight children together. In 1847, he married his third wife, Eleanor Ann Crook (1828–1882), in Baltimore. They had three children. He died in Baltimore, Maryland in 1883 at the age of 88. At the time of his death he was senior officer of the Navy on the retired list. He was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.