Battery Howe-Wagner (1895–1920) was one of seventeen gun batteries developed in the Endicott Board period which formed the Coastal Artillery defenses at Fort Winfield Scott in the Presidio of San Francisco.
Designed in the shaped of a cross, this type of battery is called an "Abbott Cross" after General Henry Larcom Abbot, Corps of Engineers, who advocated the use of mortars for seacoast defense.
By contrast, the four other mortar batteries in the Harbor Defenses of San Francisco are linear in design.
This battery had a 360-degree field of fire and could target the beaches in its range in addition to water.
Battery Howe was named in honor of Colonel Albion P. Howe, Fourth Artillery, a veteran of the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War who also served in San Francisco.