Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today the appointment of Jeff. Muskrat, 52, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma to be Superintendent of the Cherokee Agency of North Carolina, which serves the Eastern Band of Cherokee. The Cherokees were divided during the Indian Removal of the mid-1800’s. Muskrat will assume his new post October 14.
The new Cherokee Superintendent is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel who holds the Silver Star and the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, following service in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. A native of Grove, Okla., he attended Northeastern Oklahoma Junior College, Tulsa University and Maryland University as well as the United States Army Ordinance School, United States Army Engineering Management School, and United States Army Command and General Staff College.
Since his retirement from military service in 1967, Muskrat has been a farmer-rancher in Grove, Okla. and has worked for an Alexandria, Va. Based private engineering contractor. Since 1970, he has been the Administrative Manager of the Indian Technical Assistance Center, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Denver, Colo.
“The Cherokee Indians of North Carolina are fortunate to have a man with the demonstrated ability of Jeff Muskrat to administer their Agency,” Commissioner Thompson said today. “Muskrat has served in numerous leadership capacities with the U.S. Army – from the post of platoon leader to that of battalion commander. As a part of his military experience he has been supply officer, training officer, instructor, and commanding officer. The background he has acquired from these jobs can be transferred to the work of Superintendent of the Bureau’s Cherokee Agency.
“While Administrative Manager at the Indian Technical Assistance Center in Denver, Muskrat has worked extensively and successfully with Indians of almost every tribe served by the Bureau of Indian Affairs over a four-year period.
