"Stump the Yankee"

[Laurie Verge]

Then let's go with George Patten, the young lad who met Lincoln in Springfield, kept getting bullied that he was fibbing until his teacher wrote to the President and Lincoln sent a letter back attesting to having been with George???

P.S. I didn't cheat on this one. Your hint helped if it really was George. I remember his story because I would have done the same thing as his teacher.