Factual error: The bird Elsa is talking to when she died is a Eurasian (ring neck) dove, not in North America till the 1980s.
1883 (2021)
1 mistake in Hells Half Acre - chronological order
Starring: Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill
More questions & answers from 1883
Answer: Tim McGraw (the actor of James) put it best. McGraw has explained that James has PTSD from serving in the war. It doesn't help that, per McGraw, James was forced to serve and did not actually want to participate in it. This would make the war not only a shameful memory for him, but a painful one at that. Especially during a time when therapy was not a thing and people, particularly the male head of the households, were taught to hold feelings like that back. In his suffering brain, he thought it was best to try to put that memory aside rather than openly talk about it.