Last updated: May 16, 2026
Place
Locust Creek Campsite
Photo/Public Domain
Quick Facts
Location:
Tharp Cemetery, 3 mi SW of Seymour, IA
Significance:
Locust Creek Camp is where William Clayton, camp clerk to the Camp of Israel, wrote the lyrics of “Come, Come, Ye Saints” on April 15, 1846. The song, set to the tune of a familiar English song, inspired thousands of Latter-day Saint emigrants who trekked west and is sung today by congregations worldwide. Tharp Cemetery post-dates the Latter-day Saint emigration.
MANAGED BY:
Wayne County Trustees oversee the cemetery. The campsite location is privately owned.
Amenities
3 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto, Scenic View/Photo Spot
The Camp of Israel halted twice along Locust Creek from April 6 through April 15, 1846, to wait out continuing rain. The first camp (April 6-12), lay on low ground between 2 forks of Locust Creek, south of today’s County Road J54 on privately owned land. Reaching the site was tough: “It was up and down sloughs on spouty ridges and deep marshes, and raining all the while,” wrote an exhausted Hosea Stout. “The horses would sometimes sink to their bellies.”
Their first night there, a ferocious storm pummeled the area, and the emigrants awoke April 7 to find their livestock surrounded by floodwaters from Locust Creek. As days dragged on, emigrants began moving their wagons up a nearby ridge to establish a second Locust Creek Camp (April 13-15, 1846). This campsite was on the west side of today’s 220th Road, on private land opposite Tharp Cemetery.
Straggling wagons continued to grumble up the ridge until all were gathered once more. Company member William Huntington thought this “one of the most splendid sights I ever witnessed. So great a number of wagons spread out on one of the most splendid wide prairies that ever was seen.” While here on April 15, camp clerk William Clayton received word that his young wife Diantha had delivered a “fine fat” son back at Nauvoo. In honor of the birth, he composed lyrics for a hymn now known as “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” sung to a familiar English tune.
Clayton’s inspirational hymn, encouraging Latter-day Saints to “fear no toil nor labor,” became a popular marching song for Latter-day Saints trekking west, and it is sung by congregations the world over today. The hardships faced by the Camp of Israel at Locust Creek and elsewhere brought the people together, forging their faith, group identity, and sense of destiny. Clayton’s composition is a tribute to their courage and purpose.
An interpretive wayside exhibit, “Stuck in the Mud,” at Tharp Cemetery (unrelated to the Latter-day Saints’ emigration) is oriented with a view toward the site across the road.
Site Information
Location (Tharp Cemetery is open to the public. The actual campsite is not.Tharp Cemetery, Seymour, IA 52590)
Safety Considerations