Historically, the Apache had raided enemy tribes and sometimes each other, for livestock, food or captives. They raided with small parties, for a specific purpose. The Apache only rarely united to gather armies of hundreds of men, using all tribal male members of warrior age, and by the 1880s such methods of warfare were ended as most of the Apache bands had agreed to a negotiated settlement with the US government. However, other sub-nations of the Apache, usually clans or specialized warrior societies, continued their warfare. In turn, this limited potential negotiated solutions as American responses failed to distinguish between Apache raiding parties and other groups. Consequently, American responses were sometimes heavy-handed, resulting in an escalation of the situation as other Apache were drawn into the conflict.