Apache communication when Tomcat is down

I have my application running with Apache and Tomcat. During startup, my application starts Apache first and then Tomcat.
During the process of my application start, when I connect to the opening page using my browser, I see the opening page source in my browser.
I connect from the browser as "http://localhost:8100". I have my server.xml's Context directed to the opening page.
Now, some of the questions I have are: why do I see the source? Is it because apache has started and tomcat has not? When apache forwards a jsp page to tomcat when tomcat is down, what does apache get back??? Will anyone respond to this question?

I don't suppose this could be as simple as reversing the order of startup?

Start Tomcat, and then Apache ?

I don't think you should see source, I'd think you'd get some sort of 500 not available error.

But i AM seeing the source. Can anyone help with the steps to be taken to ensure this does not happen???
Even a "The page cannot be displayed" message would be a graceful way to handle this.