diff --git a/js/api/api.core.js b/js/api/api.core.js
index 67bdda11..5dd7bf7a 100644
--- a/js/api/api.core.js
+++ b/js/api/api.core.js
@@ -142,6 +142,8 @@ _api_register( 'destroy()', function ( remove ) {
 			jqTable.append( tfoot );
 		}
 
+		settings.colgroup.remove();
+
 		settings.aaSorting = [];
 		settings.aaSortingFixed = [];
 		_fnSortingClasses( settings );
diff --git a/test/api/core/destroy().js b/test/api/core/destroy().js
index 7628bde5..02b11f96 100644
--- a/test/api/core/destroy().js
+++ b/test/api/core/destroy().js
@@ -43,6 +43,10 @@ describe('core - destroy()', function() {
 			testElementsPresent(false);
 		});
 
+		it('Confirm that colgroup is removed', function() {
+			expect($('#example colgroup').length).toBe(0);
+		});
+
 		dt.html('basic');
 		it('Check default is false', function() {
 			table = $('#example').DataTable();