It closed one of the blockade-runners' favourite ports, and started the process of Union liberation of the Mississippi.
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New Orleans, a prime target of the Union for its ports, was captured without taking the fight to the city itself. Attacks on Ports Jackson and St. Phillip, allowed General Farragut to take control of the City of New Orleans.
General Ulysses Simpson Grant led the Army of the Potomac.
All of the above.
Losing New Orleans meant a loss of one of the largest ports in the Confederacy. It meant that getting supplies to Confederate forces from European sources was that much more difficult. It also closed the mouth of the Mississippi River, and following the capture of Vicksburg, it cut the South in two.
This question will bring a subjective answer inasmuch the variables of the word "major" and "early stages" can be a point of debate. The first major victory of the US Civil War by the North was the fall of New Orleans. The reasons why this is considered major are the following: New Orleans was the sixth largest city in the United States in 1862; A. It was the commercial center of the "Deep South"; B. It had the nation's largest slave market; C. Over one half of the nation's cotton came through the port of New Orleans; D. The Confederates had the city well fortified and the fighting was intense; and E. The overall value of taking this city by the North was in calculable. The City surrendered on April 28, 1862.