The Model 1849 Pocket Revolver, a replacement for the Baby Dragoon, was the most widely produced of any Colt percussion pistol. Nearly 340,000 were manufactured during a 23-year production run that ended in 1873. Although most production took place in Colt's Hartford factory, approximately 11,000 were made in London. These pistols were available with octagonal barrels ranging between 3 and 6 inches in length. The one-piece walnut grips, and casehardened frame, hammer, and loading lever previously featured on Colt's Walker and Dragoon revolvers was carried over to the Model 1849 Pocket, however, the square-back trigger guard was replaced with a round guard, and the engraved cylinder featured a stagecoach holdup scene rather than the Texas Ranger - Indian fight that had been standard on earlier Colts. Approximately 4,000 so-called "Wells Fargo" variants, with 3-inch barrels and without loading levers, were also manufactured

Legend has it that the pocket models were popular with Civil War officers who did not rely on them as combat arms but as defense against battlefield surgeons bent on amputating a limb; a more likely reason is that officers were not expected to directly engage in combat, except in self-defense, and the small size and light weight of the Pocket models made carrying them around more attractive than larger, heavier models (especially once the .36 caliber models came out). Richard Francis Burton was a devotee of Colt Revolvers and carried a selection of them on his Middle Eastern and African journeys including the trip to Somalia and Ethiopia in 1855, other anecdotal accounts indicate that Bloody Bill Anderson, the Civil War raider, preferred the Pocket Police model. In 1872 Old west gambler Shang Stanton killed Slim Jim Shumway with an 1849 Pocket Revolver with a silver finish and a carved ivory grip.

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