A Confederate memorial that was recently moved from downtown St. Augustine to the Trout Creek Fish Camp has been the target of vandalism.
WJCT News partner the Jacksonville Daily Record reported someone tried to set the nearly 30-foot stone pillar on fire, a spokesman for the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office said. The memorial and the surrounding concrete pavement were also sprayed with orange paint that read “You make us look bad.”
The memorial, which honors 46 Confederate soldiers, was finally erected at its new home at the Trout Creek Fish Camp on Thursday, but crews still needed to take beams off the nearly 150-year-old memorial, which was encased in packaging from its long journey.
Whoever vandalized the statue trespassed, threw oil on it and then set the packing material on fire overnight. It wasn’t much of a blaze, authorities said.
The base was visibly charred, but the city said foam pieces that are protecting the plaques served as a repellent, and the fire did not take.
Read the rest of this story, which includes additional photos, at News4Jax.
