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Fort Winfield Scott: Batteries Howe and Arthur Wagner
Battery Howe's Pit B (San Francisco Public Library)
 
Construction on Battery Howe began in 1893 and was completed two years later. Originally a single battery of 16 rifled mortars, it was named for Colonel Albion P. Howe, a veteran of the Mexican and Civil Wars, who died in 1897. Unlike the other mortar batteries in California which built in a straight line, Battery Howe was buildt in the shape of a cross, with a mortar pit in each quarter.
 
The battery was divided into two separate administrative entities, with Pits C and D becoming Batttery Arthur Wagner. The naming of the battery was to honor Colonel Arthur L. Wagner, Military Secretary of the Army, who died in 1905
 
In 1920, the mortars were removed and the two batteries became a storage site. At some time later, Battery Wagner and Battery Howe's Pit B was buried under an atrificial hill. This leaves only pit A visable today
 
For more information of these batteries, CLICK HERE and HERE

Model 1890 Mortar on M1896 Carriage

 
Layout of Battery Howe, 1923
Drawings Courtesy of Mark Berhow
Battery Howe Today
Battery Howe's Pit A with the shelter for two Artillery Repair Trucks mention in the 1923 Report of Completed Works (October 2000)
 
Entrance to Battery Howe's magazine from Pit A (October 2000)
 
Layout of Battery Arthur Wagner, 1923
 
 
 
Drawings Courtesy of Mark Berhow
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