Limestone is mostly made up of the mineral calcite(calcium carbonate).

Most limestone was formed on ancient ocean floors, the calcite coming from the shells of marine organisms. Limestone is very soluble, meaning it is easily dissolved. Rain water picks up carbon dioxide in the air and a weak solution of carbonic acid is formed. This water can dissolve limestone over time, creating a cave.

Cave formation begins when rainwater absorbs carbon dioxide as it falls through the atmosphere. Rain water must have carbon dioxide to become acidic. It must be acidic to chemically react to the limestone bedrock. Rainwater is absorbed by the soil into the ground. As rainwater comes through the soil it absorbs more carbon dioxide that is being produced by plants that are dead. This changes the ground water to a weaker form of carbonic acid(H2O + CO2 = H2CO3). As it travels down through the ground it comes to solid rock. When the rock is limestone or dolomite caves can form.

The water reacts chemically with limestone and slowly a larger and larger space will form. This happens because the rocks are made of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). This is what you call chemical erosion. As the space becomes larger and larger the water can flow through. As it flows it erodes . Physical erosion washes away rock and sand. This is what makes a cave larger and forms an underground stream. Finally over hundreds of thousands of years or even millions of years the cave is formed.
A stalactite is a deposit of calcium carbonate which hangs from the ceiling or wall of a limestone cave

When water flows down through the ground and into a cave, it dissolves a mineral called calcite (a major building block of limestone) and carries it through cracks in the ceiling. The dripping water leaves behind traces of calcite, which slowly builds up on the ceiling until a stalactite takes shape, hanging down like an icicle.

Limestone caves, where most stalactites and stalagmites are found, are mainly composed of calcite, a common mineral found in sedimentary rocks. Calcite molecules are made of calcium and carbonate ions, and are referred to as CaCO3, or calcium carbonate. When rainwater falls over a cave and trickles through rocks, it picks up carbon dioxide and minerals from limestone. If we add water, carbon dioxide and calcium carbonate together, we get this equation: H20 + CO2 + CaCO3 = Ca (HCO3)2 Ca (HCO3)2 is known as calcium bicarbonate, and the water carries the substance, basically dissolved calcite, through the cracks of the roof of a cave. Once water comes into contact with the air inside the cave, however, some of the calcium bicarbonate is transformed back into calcium carbonate, and calcite starts to form around the crack. As water continues to drip, the length and thickness of the calcite grows,

and eventually a stalactite forms on the ceiling. It can take a very long time for most stalactites to form -they usually grow anywhere between a quarter-inch and an inch every century.

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It doesn't end there -- we haven't talked about stalagmites yet. Of course, stalagmites don't just emerge from the ground. The water dripping from the end of a stalactite falls to the floor of a cave and deposits more calcite into a mound. Soon enough, a stalagmite will form in a conelike shape. This is why you usually find stalactites and stalagmites in pairs, and sometimes they'll even grow together to form one big column. There are many limestone caves around the world famous for their displays of dripstone, including Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, Timpanogos Caves in Utah, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and Jenolan Caves and Buchan Caves in Australia. Stalactites are formed when water saturated with respect to calcite is exposed to the atmosphere of a cave. The water has percolated from above the cave, through soil where it dissolved large amounts of carbon dioxide, forming carbonic acid, and through the overlying limestone where it dissolved calcite. As the water reaches the air in the cave it loses some of its carbon dioxide, making it oversaturated with respect to calcite, or calcium carbonate. That causes the calcite to precipitate. The form of a slowly dripping source of water tends to create a shape similar to a small stalactite when the process starts, assuming the water is not pressurized and there is little or no air movement in the cave to shape the water droplets. Eventually these deposits grow into a stalactite as water continues to seep across the surface of the body of precipitated calcite. This results in a long vertically oriented cone-shaped formation. It contains "rings" inside the solid calcite that can sometimes be related to seasonal variations, or to longer-term climate variations during the formation of the calcite stalactite. Geochemical analyses can also yield significant information that corresponds to the growth of the stalactite. At the base of the stalactite there is a splash zone where the dripping water hits the floor of the cave as it falls off the stalactite. This activity causes further loss of carbon dioxide and more precipitation of calcite. This eventually can build a mound shaped or cone shaped formation known as a stalagmite. Stalagmites also have internal structure consisting of layers that may correspond to changes in the environment, either seasonal or long-term.

If these two formations grow large enough they may eventually meet and form a column or a pillar as you have called it. At this point the precipitation of calcite is around the outside of the column, making it grow in diameter.