In a cemetery located in a Civil War battlefield, you will discover an interesting sight. All of the graves but two in Jones Cemetery face East to West. But there are two graves marked by two white gravestones that face North to South. Why?
During my visit to Parker's Crossing Battlefield last summer, I asked one of the guides in the visitor center if they could explain this discrepancy. Here is their reply . . .
You don't have to be a history buff to appreciate Reverend John Parker who died in 1864, but makes his point in eternity. Reverend Parker had a cabin located in Parker's Crossroads, in West Tennessee. Reverend Parker was a passionate unionist, fiercely opposing southern secession. However, in late 1862, after Union forces placed a cannon right in his front yard, he demanded that the Union commander remove it, saying that his house would become a target for the Confederates counter strike. The Union commander refused. After the commander's refusal to move the cannon, Dr. Parker switched sides, and supported the confederacy.
So when he and his wife were buried in Jones cemetery, Reverend Parker's final wish was to be buried with his head facing the south and his feet to the north, so that 'when the angel Gabriel sounds his trumpet', he could rise and kick the Yankees behinds all the way back to the North!
You've got to love a man with a cause . . .
