This photo shows a section about 3 ft. up from the ground of a brick column in the middle of the basement of my 1870s home.

The column is part of the base of an old chimney which was removed long ago. This section is all that's left. It sits on a concrete floor and runs up to the bottoms of the floor joists. It looks as if at one time it supported a girder that catches the floor joists at midspan. But lolly columns carry that load now so the brick doesn't seem to be doing any structural work.

I could remove it, but first I'd like to understand what's causing the brick to deteriorate. The basement is damp so I definitely need to address moisture issues around the foundation walls. But this section of brick is in the middle of the footprint of the house so it's not getting wet at all.

Any ideas what's causing this?