FEA is not in my realm of Mechanical Engineering. I know enough to make colorful pictures 
to develop intuition, but not enough to get analytical results. Also, you need the paid version of Fusion360 to use their simulation tools.
Until a real FEA expert steps up, I can generate colorful pictures for people:
Kinda related to the topic, here is a comparison of a fore-aft load on a fork 25.4x1.2x.9 fork leg w/ and w/o bosses:
The bosses on the side are not directly in the load path. This is why I also question the efficacy of the Willits style brake tabs (Disk Fork Question - #12 by bushtrucker). Seems like they just move a stress riser to an area with higher stress (higher up the leg).