US / Confederate statues Confederate Soldier Statue Beheaded in Ohio Cemetery Its head was stolen, but its hat was left behind By Newser Editors and Wire Services Posted Aug 22, 2017 6:59 PM CDT Copied The vandalized Confederate soldier statue that stood in Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery waits to be moved into safekeeping on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017, in Columbus, Ohio. (Eric Albrecht/The Columbus Dispatch via AP) Police say a Confederate soldier statue at a cemetery in Ohio has been damaged by vandals who took its head. Columbus police say vandals appear to have climbed on an arched memorial at Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery and toppled the statue atop the monument to the ground. The AP reports the soldier's head and hat were knocked off. Police say the vandals took the head but left the hat. Police say the vandalism occurred early Tuesday at the cemetery where around 2,000 soldiers are buried. Confederate statues around the country have been targeted in the weeks following a white-nationalist rally to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia. A counterprotester was killed. Police in Ohio had been monitoring the cemetery since the Aug. 12 rally. (More Confederate statues stories.) Report an error