Tamaha began as a riverboat landing on the Arkansas River in the 1830s. Initially, the community was called Pleasant Bluff, after a nearby geographic feature. During the Civil War, the Union steamer, "J. R. Williams", had carried supplies for the Union army between Fort Smith, Arkansas and Fort Gibson in Indian Territory. On June 15, 1864, Confederate forces under Colonel Stand Watie attacked with cannon and small arms fire as the ship negotiated a bend at Pleasant Bluff. The ship was crippled and ran aground, where the Confederates captured it. According to the "Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture", the rusted skeleton of the steamer remains where it was grounded.