Crews dismantling Indianapolis Confederate soldiers monument

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Workers on Monday started dismantling a monument at an Indianapolis park that is dedicated to Confederate soldiers who died at a Union prison camp in the city.

Mayor Joe Hogsett announced last week that the monument would be removed from Garfield Park. It was moved from a cemetery to the park in 1928 following efforts by public officials active in the Ku Klux Klan who sought to 'œmake the monument more visible to the public,'ť according to a news release from Hogsett's office.

The Indianapolis Parks Board passed a resolution in 2017 to remove the monument once funding was secured, but that never happened. Hogsett said the city was identifying a source of funding, with the expected cost ranging from $50,000 to $100,000.

The parks resolution came after an Indianapolis man was arrested for vandalizing the memorial following a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, fueled by that city's proposal to remove Confederate statues there. A woman died during the rally.

The monument was commissioned in 1912 for Greenlawn Cemetery to commemorate Confederate prisoners of war who died at Camp Morton in Indianapolis.