A very nice US GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) frock coat, complete with GAR medal and officer's insignia bar which were found in the inside pocket. GAR medal is numbered indicating that it came directly from an authorized GAR quartermaster. This coat is a possible conversion from it's original use in the military and shows signs of having shoulder insignia at one time. It also features 2 early US Army buttons which are shown in photos. 10 GAR Buttons are located on the front of this uniform, 3 on the rear, and 2 on each sleeve. Some buttons show signs of repair and/or discoloration from age. A rare find. 
 
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Springfield, Illinois, and grew to include hundreds of "posts" (local community units) across the nation (predominantly in the North, but also a few in the South and West). It was dissolved in 1956 at the death of its last member, Albert Woolson (1850–1956) of Duluth, Minnesota.
 
Linking men through their experience of the war, the G.A.R. became among the first organized advocacy groups in American politics, supporting voting rights for black veterans, promoting patriotic education, helping to make Memorial Day a national holiday, lobbying the United States Congress to establish regular veterans' pensions, and supporting Republican political candidates. Its peak membership, at 410,000, was in 1890, a high point of various Civil War commemorative and monument dedication ceremonies. It was succeeded by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), composed of male descendants of Union Army and Union Navy veterans.