LeRoy Fitch was born on 1 October 1835 in Logansport, Indiana. He was a member of the United States Naval Academy class of 1856, and served with distinction in the American Civil War and afterward. Commanding in the Mississippi Squadron, in 1863 he pursued General John Hunt Morgan, CSA, the famed raider, for up the Ohio River, frustrating Morgan's attempts to cross the river and retire to Confederate territory. Commander Fitch died in Logansport, Indiana on 13 April 1875.