Stupidity: The emigrants lack guns yet after several bandit raids the team does not take the guns and ammo from the bandits to protect themselves from future raids. It's not like they can swing by the local Cabelas and stock up on guns and ammo.
Character mistake: Captain is warning German travelers about poison oak and ivy, but holding up the leaf of an oak tree.
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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.